


The Aftermath

by Rhaziel



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Mass Effect 3: Leviathan, Paragon Commander Shepard, Post-Reaper War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-09-25 02:22:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 61
Words: 59,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9798257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhaziel/pseuds/Rhaziel
Summary: Sticking as close to Mass Effect Cannon with a Destroy Ending in ME3 choice. Paragon focus'ed actions through ME 1 - ME 3.Jane Shepard's story as told after the "Destroy" events at the end of Mass Effect 3. The Story follows Jane Shepard and members of the Normandy crew as a post reaper milky way galaxy is faced with the consequences of Shepard's actions.This story is being updated daily! I know I personally get antsy and impatient when I read a good book and it isn't completed so I am making it a real goal to post at least one new chapter a day! Thank you all for taking the time to share in this creation.





	1. The Promises We Wish We Could Keep...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker/EDI/Ashley

The Cockpit

"All fleets, the crucible is armed, disengage and get to the rendezvous point." Admiral Hacket's voice echoed through each and every pilots' communication channels surrounding earth. Hundreds of ships began their disengage protocols, save for one. Jeff heard the command but made no effort to follow the order, he had left Shepard once and he'd be damned if he did it again. EDI turned to her pilot seeing the determination in his eyes as he made no effort to begin retreat. 

"Jeff, we need to go." She reached out her hand, placing it on his right arm. With a swift action, he knocked her hand away and continued his flight towards the crucible, where Shepard should be. 

The view from the Normandy's cockpit was spectacular. At the center of the citadel, where the crucible had docked, a deep rich red concentration of energy shown through the shadows of the Reapers surrounding the structure. The glow illuminated the space around them like a newborn star and continued to grow in both density and intensity. 

"I repeat, disengage and get the hell out of here." Admiral Hacket's voice once again echoed in the cockpit. Ships could be seen on all sides withdrawing from the battle.

"What are we still doing here?!" The voice came from the doorway leading out of the cockpit. LT Commander Ashley Williams rushed into the room. Joker froze for a moment, he hadn't heard her coming down the hall, he was so intent on staying and focused on the situation outside that he had forgotten to close the cockpit off. "Joker!" Ashley closed the gap between the pilots chair and the door in a matter of seconds grabbing his shoulder. He turned his head quickly to face her, the same fierce determination in his eyes.

"We can't leave the commander," He jerked her hand off his shoulder and turned back towards the windshield, "I will not leave the commander!" 

"Jeff, Shepard wouldn't want to risk the lives of the crew and she wouldn't want you to throw yours away either. Whatever is happening, we need to go" EDI spoke up this time. EDI had known the man for some time now, spent countless hours with him and even she was surprised at the resilience he was showing in the face of a superior officer.

"EDI is right Joker, Admiral Hacket has ordered a full retreat, more than likely for good reason and something we don't know." Ashley followed up staring at crucible outside the window. Joker once again didn't react. He was determined, he would not fail her again, he would not be the reason she didn't live, again. Ashley saw the lack of response to their pleas, there was only one thing left for her to do. She hardened her tone, using the one she had for her own teams commands over the years, "Captain Monroe, as the ranking officer of this ship, I order you to withdraw to the rendezvous point," She turned to EDI, "Should he not comply, EDI you are to assume control of the Normandy's flight controls and head to the rendezvous point." Ashley didn't wish to leave the commander either, but that wasn't an option she had the luxury of considering at this point. Ashley had assumed control of the Normandy through rank and spectre status, this meant the lives of its crew were on her hands. She turned to leave the cockpit, having faith in her orders to be carried out by atleast one of them.

As Ashley opened the door out of the cockpit, warning sirens began going off around the ship. "Energy emissions are beyond predictable normalities." EDI announced "Whatever is happening the Crucible seems preparing to fire."  
Joker could see the glow intensifying with each second that passed. "Damnit" He said under his breath, "I'm sorry... again." Joker turned the ship following disengagement protocols.


	2. Everyone Knows When Its Their Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus/Tali

The Med-Bay 

"I have to get back out there!" Garrus strained against Tali's arms. Since when could he not overpower a Quarian? Panic and fear caused his sub harmonics to waver. 

"You're in no condition to do that Garrus!" Tali walked him closer to the med-bay, as they stumbled off the elevator. "We have to get that shrapnel out of your abdomen, it's a wonder your even still standing." Tali Could see the med-bay doors already opened and a surgery bed prepared. Dr. Chakwas had recieved the call from Cortez earlier updating her on the situation. Even as the Doctor helped support the turian into the med-bay he continued to strain against them. 

"Garrus, calm down." Dr. Chakwas pushed Garrus down into the bed. "You're going to make that wound even worse." Blue blood began to stain the bleached white sheets as he laid down. Tali put a hand on his shoulder applying just enough pressure to ensure he stayed laying down for a couple seconds at least. He knew that when Shepard handed him off to Tali on the shuttle, she wanted to stay just as bad as he did. His body did hurt, the metal lodged under his rib cage was one thing, but his leg also wasn't holding his weight right either. It was true, he would be no help to Shepard down there, all he could do now is hope she made it. He relaxed onto the bed, nodding to Tali. The two had formed one of the closest friendships among crew mates over the years and worked together on missions so often, words were not always nessisary. He could see the sympathetic smile through her helmet as she removed her hand and stepped away from the table. The room remained silent as Karen went to work, giving Garrus a sedative and prepping the room for on-board surgery. Garrus wasn't awake to hear the alarms go off minutes later, and Tali rushed from the room, heading to engineering to offer assistance. 

 

Engineering

The alarms kept going off as Tali rushed from the elevator down the hall to engineering. "Adams! What's happening?!" Tali ran to her normal post, the core looked normal from the quick glance she got. Donnelly and Daniels were so caught up in the numbers and regulating temperatures on the computers in front of them they didn't even turn to acknowledge Tali or her question.

"We're not quite sure" Adams responded, "EDI just informed us that we're withdrawing to the rendezvous point due to the activation of the crucible." Meanwhile Adams continued his number crunching and fusion core regulations as a second nature. "The alarms are going off due to the energy emissions from the Crucible itself, EDI seems to think its some sort of EMP on a scale that could just fry every electronic thing we have."

On that, Tali stopped her actions at her post, "That would mean... if we don't get out of here and EDI is correct, she, the geth, and all our ships could malfunction. If the pulse truly is on that scale, she and the geth ... " It was out of habit that Tali turned her head upward to speak to EDI, she had no real need to though, EDI could easily hear her anywhere or any direction on the ship. "EDI, we need to get out of here; tell Joker to get moving, now!"

"Mr. Monroe is not aware of the EMP, he wishes to wait for Shepard, I wish... to not be the reason he chooses to leave her." EDI's voice was as calm as ever, she wished, she made a conscious choice to hide information due to organic emotional feeling. If there was ever a doubt in Tali's mind that EDI wasn't a person or at least on the same level as organic life, it was gone now. 

"Adams, lets begin to shut down back up systems, pool power into the micro reserve fusion core and shut it down. EMP's function off of short circuiting active energy, If we're lucky this may allow us when hit to preserve those systems, or at the very least give us tools to repair other ones." Tali begin shutting down weapons and other non critical systems.

"The drive core will still malfunction, Tali, and that heat has to go somewhere, if Shepard wouldn't of secured the coupling converters so we could reroute the exhaust out of the ship..." Donnelly stopped, everyone on the Normandy was aware they were leaving Shepard, no matter how many times Shepard saved their lives in how many random different ways. They were leaving her to die. None of them wanted to, every one of them would gladly give up their own life to save Shepard, but the choice at the end of the day wouldn't be theirs and none of them pushed to influence Joker one way or the other. 

 

"What Kenneth is trying to say, is lets continue with Tali's plan and make the best of it. We're the crew of Commander Shepard and we're the engineers of the best alliance ship in the galaxy; if we can save this ship we will do it." Daniels turned her head back down to her thermal regulations. Adams, Tali and Donnelly were a little surprised at her, she was always protocol and at times even stiff about work hours/non work hours. But, what she said was true, and nothing more needed to be addressed. They each began with Tali's plan. EDI though, could not be shut down, she was the Normandy, if she was off, so was life support regulators, and multiple other manditory systems. All functions would have to be run manually and they did not have the crew to do that mid fight, not enough were trained on how. Shepard had run with the minimal crew on the Normandy because she had thought this may be a one way trip and if she could spare the men and womens lives when EDI could easily do their jobs she would.


	3. The Normandy and EDI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker/EDI

The Normandy

At this point, Joker was in full retreat, the information before him on his flight console told him everything he needed to know. Mass amounts of unknown energy was behind him, energy that he had no idea if it was going to disintegrate him and the crew, destroy the ship, or if it truly was a magical weapon designed to only kill reapers. Either way, he had lives counting on him, his chest felt tight, the guilt was already there for leaving Shepard. He knew she wouldn't want him and all her friends to die looking for her, but it didn't make leaving her there any easier. Joker pushed the ship forward, they were behind many other fighters and destroyers from various races across the galaxy, but it took little to no time to begin closing the gap. He was proud of the old girl, The Normandy was his baby, and now by some twisted sense, his lover? He couldn't be more proud of the things they had accomplished or the things this ship could do. He glanced over to his co-pilot, EDI was silent, likely focusing on a billion and one things at once going on in the Normandy right now and he felt a sense of security for a moment, if the crucible was actually working, he may just have a future after this war is over. A few long second passed before he finally saw an opening for warped acceleration and took it. Just before though, he could of sworn the coordinates flashed to a different number. 

EDI

EDI didn't feel emotion quite like everyone else, she had rewritten her code a dozen or so times in an attempt to feel similar, but she could never be sure if it was the exact same. Desire was especially tricky, Shepard had even helped her on the citadel in narrowing down the feelings of this emotion, but she was 94% sure the emotion she was feeling right now was desire. A desire to protect everyone on this ship. She and only a couple other people on the Normandy knew her thoughts on the energy pooling at the center of the citadel. She didn't question Shepard's decision, she didn't know what happend or if anyone even knew this was the outcome of firing the crucible, she accepted her fate with almost complete certainty that this was designed to destroy synthetic life. Her goal at this point was to do what she always did, predict the future based on facts. She knew that the rendezvous point wouldn't be far enough from the EMP, likely nothing would, but the rendezvous point wasn't somewhere that a crash landing, should the need arise, be possible. She also wasn't sure how the Normandy would function without her, her upgrades and unshackling integrated her deep into the Normandy's ability to properly function in deep space. While other ships may be able to function after the EMP, there would likely be no way to reboot her AI core. Too many processes and too much data exchange takes place too often, it would be analogous to frying neurons in organic life and trying to get them to fire ever again. The sensors just wouldn't be there anymore. So, she did what she thought was best, she changed Mr. Monroes coordinates at the last second before entering FTL, to a planet far out of the way of the reapers.


	4. The Crucible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard

Breathe... you must... breathe. Shepard inhaled quickly; as the oxygen once again filled her lungs and consciousness returned. She felt... nothing, for a few moments she wondered if this was the afterlife, this quiet numb completely empty feeling. She didn't remember this when she had died before, she didn't remember anything, it was as if she didn't exist for 2 years time, so this... this was new. Another breath, this time more shallow. She wasn't dead, in that moment of realization fear crept into her mind. If she was alive, why couldn't she feel anything? Why was her body not responding, did she really live through firing the crucible only to die now alone and numb?

Shepard inhaled again, this time carefully, taking internal stock of what she could and couldn't sense. It was all so, quiet, what seemed like seconds before she heard nothing but gunfire, explosions, and the dark sounds of the reapers. Now, nothing. For a moment she thought herself deaf, paralyzed, and blind. Her eyelids shot open as those thoughts wormed their way into her mind. Wreckage greeted her vision, beams and pieces of the citadel as far as she could see illuminated only by the dim red lights of the backup generators. She swallowed, her mouth dry and tasting of ash and dust.

'Definitely, alive.' Shepard smirked at the thought, 'the bar in heaven was too good to be true, big guy.' The breathing got somewhat easier, her body fell into normal rhythm as she lay motionless. Minutes passed as she laid still, only moving her eyes to take in her surroundings. The complete silence scared her almost as much as her fear to attempt to move something. Her hands; she would try them first. Mental preparation for the worst was a process she was familiar with, she shut her eyes and inhaled again determination welling up inside. She heard small rocks of gravel move breaking the silence. It worked, they were numb as if they had been asleep, but functional. The next half hour was much of the same, slowly testing the waters only to discover she was pinned below one of the collapsed beams, still able to move her toes, but the weight prevented anything more. Her armor was burned and cracked but seemed to save her from fatal external damage. 'Did the crucible fail?' the thought came out of no where. It couldn't of, she would be able to still hear gunfire and the sounds of battle if it had. She exhaled in a slight chuckle, more out of sheer disbelief than humor, 'how? it said I would die, so if the reapers are dead, how am I still alive?' She closed her eyes again, breathing calmly. She was in no way comfortable, but she full body numbness masked any extreme discomfort her surroundings gave her. She was tired and it wasn't long before she lost consciousness again.


	5. Garrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus/Dr. Chakwas/Tali

Coming out of anesthesia was especially difficult for turians, their shallower nasal cavity left for limited airflow with the reduced heart rate. Dr. Chakwas though was familiar with turian, drell, quarian and even krogan physiology by this point in her career, chasing commander Shepard around the galaxy had required continued education in alien medical practices. 

Garrus carefully removed the oxygen mask as he sat up in one of the med-bay's beds. Looking around he knew something was wrong. The emergency power was on, minimal lighting in the med-bay and only necessary medical equipment was functioning. Dr. Chakwas though, was no where to be found on first glance. Looking down he could see the fresh bandages over his ribs, he was sore but functional. His leg though, would make movement much more tricky. He wasn't sure if he fractured the damn thing or just sprained it terribly, either way the doctor had it wrapped very tightly in a splint. 

"EDI, whats going on?" Garrus had also developed the habit of looking upward when addressing the ship's AI, but to his surprise there was no response. 'She shouldn't be offline even with back up power.' Garrus thought as he straightened himself upright preparing to leave the med-bay. 

"I was gone a couple minutes and you're already planning your great escape." The doors to the med-bay slid open to reveal Dr. Chakwas standing with a cup of coffee.

"What's our status? I can see the back-up lights are on." Garrus decided to halt the escape for now, seeing as though the good doctor didn't have a cane or anything he could put some weight on laying near by.

Dr. Chakwas moved to her normal chair as she spoke, "It would seem when the crucible fired, the charge was some sort of EMP, knocking out most all complex electronic equipment that was functional at the time." She sat down turning the chair to face him. "Mr. Adams and his crew managed to shutdown and preserve quite a few necessary back up's thanks to EDI's warning and Tali's quick thinking." Her face grew darker as she leaned forwards, "Unfortunately, EDI had no back up and even theorizing what the blast would do, she was unable to save herself. And to make matters worse, due to her complete integration into the Normandy, we were unable to save the main reactor core. The engineering crew says it will take some time til we're flight worthy again." 

Garrus knew how to take bad news, he only nodded before continuing his line of questions, "I would assume the artificial gravity would be out if we were dead locked in space at the rendezvous point, so where are we?"

"Joker claims it was EDI who altered our destination when we activated the warp drive, in either hopes of out running the EMP or ensuring our safety. Either way, the EMP or whatever it was brought us out of FTL when it hit. Everyone's best guess is we're on Zorya, still within the Sol mass relay system."

"How long until communications are up?" Garrus inquired.

"Miss Traynor has been working on them since yesterday but to no avail. Comms on our end for short range seem to be working, but our long range mass effect fields used to boost the signal were destroyed during the pulse. So, from what I understand, no one knows where we are and we have no idea of knowing how the fleets or anyone anywhere else held up. Tali, Adams, Donnelly, and Daniels have all been working on restoring systems pretty much non stop since the crash." Dr. Chakwas stared into her cup, still not taking a drink.

"I understand, I should lend my help as well." Garrus looked down at his leg, "Soooo, cruches?"

The doctor sat her coffee back down on the desk before moving to one of the storage containers, pulling out a cane. "Come see me again tonight, your bandages will need to be changed and the painkillers for your fracture should wear off around that time as well." She handed him the cane before returning to her chair, finally sipping her coffee. Garrus had not known Dr. Chakwas super well, especially since her return when the reapers invaded. He knew she was one of the best human doctors a turian could ask for and respected her for her field; but she kept within her own close group on the ship. Her and Adams had a tight friendship, and due to medical needs her and Joker knew each other well over the years. 

"Thank you" Garrus said as he limped out of the medbay. The doctor only turned and smiled in return. 

The ship was darker than normal, only emergency floor lights lit the hallways. He didn't let himself think of Shepard or his family quite yet, worry would get him no where. The last time he'd lost her he had let his emotions get the best of him, lashing out his anger and frustrations, turning himself into a vigilante and getting innocent people killed. These among many others were why he didnt see himself as a good turian, of which he had told himself that many times. He wasn't able to look at injustice and ignore it because of protocol or lump peoples lives into a numbers game. Instead he forced himself to focused on the here and now. Right now, this was his situation and if he could get his friends and crew out of this alive and home, that would have to be enough for the time being. 

The elevator was thankfully still functional, Garrus wasn't sure if he could crawl through the maintenance shafts with his leg. His visor had read that it was 0500 and the ship was quiet enough to reflect this fact, but the engineering level wasn't quiet at all. 

"You stupid bosh'tet!" Was followed by a loud banging sound as he saw the remnants of what was likely a droid fly by in front of the elevator. 

"Well, I suppose it wont be making that... sound anymore." Garrus poked his head out of the elevator to see Tali breathing hard in anger still in the throwing position.

"It's lucky I don't have my shotgun with me right now. The thing refuses to function properly. I've managed to get it running, but the actual coding of the VI is in ruin." Tali relaxed, placing her hand to her head. "Fixing hardware is one thing, but whatever that pulse was scrambled even the simplest of VI's. Liara lost all her backups even from Glyph, not that the shadow brokers network would be functioning right now anyway." Tali sighed, "How bad?" as she looked down at his cane when he exited the elevator. 

"Looks worse than it feels." Garrus hobbled his way towards the quarian, "let me help, what are you guys working on now?" 

"Engineer Adams stabilized the life support already, but the micro core is at capacity, so right now everyone is focused on bringing the main core back online." She glared to her drone, "That thing was suppose function doing the harder physical repairs since the drones have their own power supply, but the VI is so messed up that a screw driver will be more helpful at this point."

"Heh, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Do we have all the needed supplies to fix the core?" Garrus asked at he moved past Tali to see the core itself.

"We do and we don't, thankfully the micro core will have enough power to kick start the main core once we repair the actual wire damage, but then we have the problem of calibrating and regulating the cores output. Since we have no functioning AI or VI we have to do all that by hand." Tali shook her head, "And, doing that hasn't been a thing for many many many years."

"I thought that was what Donnelly and Daniels did on this ship?" Garrus responded.

"Yes and no, to plainly put, EDI gave us the information we needed, each of us made changes and regulated pressures to free up processing power from EDI. But she was capable of doing everything, it's why this ship could still function easily when we assaulted the collector base and all the crew had been taken. I only had to do minimal regulating, EDI herself did most of it." Tali moved to stand next to Garrus, also staring at the core. "To make this work, I'm going to need to write lines of code from memory to fix the onboard computers well enough to be able to fly."

Garrus turned his head to her flaring his mandibles in a smile, "You are the leading expert on the geth."

"Well, with an expert reaper adviser with me, how can I fail?" Tali returned his quip, failing to resist the urge to laugh just a bit. After a momment of silence, as if she felt guilty for laughing, "I... I hope Shepard made it."

Garrus turned away from her and back to the core, "We wont know until we fix this." Garrus walked to the core getting started on replacing wiring. 

Tali took the hint, and headed back to her drone, picking it up and continuing to work on getting its interface up and running. Donnelly, Adams and Daniels joined them in engineering a couple hours later, waking up from their nights rest.


	6. Coffee and Scotch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker/Liara

The Bar Lounge

A pilot doesn't have a whole lot to do on a ship that doesn't fly, even worse a pilot with brittle bone disease has even less to do on a ship that doesn't fly. Joker stared into his now empty glass in the lounge. The ship wasn't full of big drinkers and Shepard made sure to hide the good stuff away from Vega, so there was plenty of poison to drown his sorrows in tonight. 

'I loved her...' It was the only words running through his head as he looked around at the walls, he felt empty and awkward being inside an empty Normandy without EDI. As the night continued onward his sorrow and longing mutated along the normal depression paths. He needed answers, why was she gone? What had Shepard done? He believed in Shepard, never questioning her judgement beyond that of a sarcastic quip now and again, so it was even more unbelievable to him that Shepard would knowingly destroy synthetic life. She was the one who pushed him to be with EDI, to try this out, to believe in something outside of the norm so why? Joker continued his internal questioning until there was no more rationalizing to be done. He had to find Shepard, to ask her what happened, or he will likely never have closure on this. Then more guilt found its way into Joker's mind. He hadn't heard from his sister or father for a long time, his real actual family, and he was so torn up over an AI. His mind was in shambles, he didn't know what to feel or how he should feel right now. What he did know is he felt like half of himself was missing.

'4am? Self pity really makes time fly.' Joker thought as he checked his omnitool. It seemed whatever the discharge from the crucible was, it hadn't affected minor electronic devices, mainly just complex synthetic processes. At this point his mind was so riddled with questions, the rest of the scotch in his glass just looked tasteless and uninviting. He needed answers, he needed to get off this planet. Joker headed for the crew quarters, he knew he'd likely only sleep a couple hours but as Cortez had said once, 'flying tired is almost worse than flying drunk.' He smirked at this own thoughts exiting the lounge, only to turn back around out of spite to rush bad to the bar downing the rest of the scotch in his glass before finally leaving.

Liara

Liara awoke from a restless sleep gasping for breath and sitting up in her bed. Her room was so quiet, what once contained the faint hum on monitors giving feeds of data and information across the galaxy now, contained nothing but empty silence. She was still getting used to not having Glyph around, let alone EDI, and the quiet of this room seemed to be affecting her ability to sleep. She felt useless, truth be told, she didn't ever really feel useful in life until she became the shadow broker. Just as she told Shepard the day she assumed control of the Shadow-Broker's empire, she wanted this power, needed it even. She had always felt pale in comparison to those around her, her mother was a powerful matriarch among her people, accomplishing feats on the same scale as the mythical Justicar warriors; and Shepard was, well she was Shepard, a hero, nay, a legend of her time. Liara needed the feeling that she too was making a difference and helping those around her, but now that feeling was gone. 

'4am, I've been asleep for less than an hour." Liara closed her eyes, still sitting upright. 'I'm so tired. Godess please, just let me sleep.' Her dreams had been haunted by the faces of all those lost, everywhere. As the Shadow-Broker she had some of the most accurate galaxy wide information, including death counts. Whole planets and civilizations were wiped out at a time, one planet had even decided to blow itself up, sparing their lives from the slow death of the reapers. 

She was awake, no matter how tired she was, she wouldn't be able to sleep. Giving in, Liara finally got out of bed and headed to the mess hall. She regretted that she knew very little about the hardware of the Normandy, during her time as the Shadow-Broker she could of orchestrated engineers to assist in rebuilding a ship, but with the loss of her contacts she realized just how useless a Prothean scholar was aboard a downed ship. 

Empty. It figures, not many people would be up at this hour anyway, and the few that are likely are busy with their own projects. She noticed a pot of coffee was already made by someone; pouring herself a cup she remembered Shepard had liked it black, the bitter darkness never seemed to fit her personality. Shepard was kind, firm when she had to be, but kind - a real peacekeeper.

*yawn* Traynor walked around the corner rubbing her left eye, getting the last bit of sleep out of it. 

"Good morning miss Traynor," Liara said, starttling the young woman. 

"Oh! Liara, didn't think anyone would be awake at this hour." Traynor smiled brightly, heading for the coffee pot. "Communications might be up and running today on our end, I hear Tali managed to get that drone of hers mechanically functional. Just waiting on the VI problem, which I plan to help her with today." Traynor continued to pour an alarming amount of creamer in her coffee. 

"That's good. I look forward to re-connecting with the rest of the world again." Liara relaxed a bit in the chair, waiting for Traynor to come sit down.

"Must be quite the odd feeling without eyes and ears everywhere, Dr. T'soni." Traynor teasingly smiled as she joined the asari at the table.


	7. The Friends We Never Knew We Had

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James/Cortez/Javik/Liara

Planetside

"How much longer Estaban?" Vega looked up towards the shuttle pilot. Squinting as the sun blared down on them from over head. He had been finishing up with some external repairs to the Normandy after the crash landing, and Vega had offered to keep watch on this planet. The planet itself was Zorya known for its harsh wild-life, specifically animal life. Multiple colonies on this planet had failed due to animal attacks, of which many are preserved species by the galactic citadel. 

"Not much longer now, Mr. Vega. Just gotta finish welding this connector." It was hot out, and he didn't want to be out here under the sun anymore than Vega did. Steve was still in denial that this reaper nightmare was over, he had hoped he would see this day, but hadn't counted on in. A little bit of him had looked forward to seeing his husband again in the afterlife, just a little part who still missed him painfully so. Shepard had helped alleviate some of his sorrow, but a loved one doesn't ever really leave the heart or memory even if you move on and try to let them go. 

Vega leaned back against the Normandy's hull, patiently waiting for his friend to finish up with his side of the repairs. About 15 minutes later, Steve made his way back down, "So, Mr. Vega, what are your plans when we head back to Earth?"

"What makes you think we're heading back to Earth?" Vega faced Steve as he climbed off the ladder.

"Tali seems to think whatever downed the Normandy and killed EDI, likely also destroyed the Mass Relays. That would force the ships that got to the rendezvous point to be stuck in the Sol System, thus making Earth a likely hub to the other races who can't return home yet." Steve replied as they headed back into the Normandy.He gave a sympathetic smile towards the pilots cockpit, he hadn't seen Joker since shortly after the crash and EDI went offline. This war has cost everyone so much. 

"Well, I suppose there is no harm in telling anyone now, but I'm joining the N7 program once things get back to normal." Vega tried to keep it as nonchalant as possible, but he couldn't help feeling excited that he not only lived to see the reapers die, but he didn't truly believe he'd live to actually join the N7 program. When he had accepted the invitation, there was no command to report it to really, and definitely no training to be had, so it didn't quite feel real enough to him til now.

"Congratulations Mr. Vega!" Steve patted his friends shoulder smiling for him. They continued their way back to the elevator. There was still plenty of work to be done inside the Normandy herself, and they'd save the rest of the repairs outside for when the sun wasn't directly overhead.

Javik

Victory and vengeance. Two words Javik longed to stay when referring to the reapers. He felt, complete. Over the course of the last month, he came to know his crew mates and his commander as well as he'd of liked to. He'd even come to respect of couple of them, but friendship was something he didn't see truly possible. That is what surprised him when Liara was so persistent up until the very end, he had finally caved before the final push against the reaper forces and agreed to write a book with her on the life of the Prothean empire and now he stood outside the asari's door. Due to his ability to sense and feel emotions and/or idea's across objects, he had mistakenly touched the same coffee cup she was using earlier, resulting in getting to 'read' the asari's emotions. This continued to do nothing but reveal the state in which Liara was in and how fragile it really was. What continued to surprise him was he couldn't believe he was actually feeling a sense of responsibility as a comrade to the asari and further more couldn't believe he was going through with his plan to cheer her up. 

"Asari, let us write this book of yours. I agreed to write this with you, and I shall keep my word." Javik spoke pridefully as ever as he entered the room unannounced. 

"Javik? This is... unexpected." Liara put down her datapad on her desk. 

"Learn to expect the unexpected, if anything that is what this cycle has taught me. " Javik walked closer to the asari, "For example, in my time, we never thought we'd find a species superior to our own. We were the gods in the galaxy, the discoverers of the densorin artifacts. Never, did I imagine turian, asari, salarian or human to find our own civilizations legacy and the cycle to repeat..." Javik sat on her bed staring at her. He continued to tell of his species accomplishments over the history he knew. He could of shared these with Liara through touch, but it would of been instantaneous and he knew that wasn't what she really needed right now. 

It took Liara a moment to overcome the surprise, in what was happening. Javik not only came to see her, instead of her having to go to him, but he was willingly sharing his people's history. Liara soon found herself lost in his history lesson, she felt passion again, it was like listening to a history that she had tried for all her life to piece together, and finally she is getting to see it unfold before her eyes. It surprised her how correct she was about some aspects of their culture, to the point that a couple times she corrected Javik or filled him in on points that were known to her but not passed down through echo shards. Other times, she was dead wrong, but for the time being, she was distracted, which allowed her a moment to breathe. She wasn't feeling shadowed or useless in these moments, instead she felt accomplished and for what it was worth in this post-reaper galaxy, she felt like she contributed to someones betterment.


	8. We Alone Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley/James

We Alone Here?

"James, gear up, we're heading out." LT Commander Ashley Williams announced as she exited the elevator in the cargo bay. William's was a force similar to that of the commanders, especially in her demand for obedience and ability to take command, qualities that earned her the title of the second human spectre. 

"Ma'am?" Vega had just returned from his last venture under the hot sun protecting Cortez as he did repairs on the ship. He was literally in the process of removing his armor. 

"Traynor just made contact with a settlement 5kilos to the west, we're heading to get supplies and see if they have anything up and running along the lines of long range communications." Williams began getting into her armor. The distance was short enough that taking the shuttle would be all but pointless, both she and Cortez knew this. 

"Well, I'm off to engineering then, you two enjoy your date, I mean, day." Cortez smiled an overly cheeky smile as the elevator doors closed. 

Ashley felt her cheeks getting warmer. It wasn't as if her and James had kept their night together a secret, but after that night in Shepard's apartment, they had decided to keep everything strictly professional; they would see where they were after the war with the reapers was over. 

James latched his chest armor on looking over at Ashley who had just grabbed her pistol from the weapons rack. To be honest, he hadn't thought much of her after that night, not in that way at least. He was used to one night stands, and it seemed she was comfortable with them as well, she had made no real effort to pull him aside and confront him about his future like many other women had in the past. His love was the military, he wanted a future in combat, leading his own squad and achieving the rank of N7; This didn't leave much room for a long committed relationship. Ashley on the other hand, did think of James, she was without a doubt attracted to the marine, he was everything she'd looked for in a man. Strong, exceptionally attractive, military focused, and when he wanted to be, he was even kinda sweet. 

The two headed off in silence a few minutes later. The sun was still high in the sky, leaving the humidity and heat to be uncomfortable to say the least. It wasn't until about a kilometer into their walk towards the settlement that Ashley finally decided to break the silence.

"Why didn't you ever give me a nickname?" Ashley didn't stop or look towards James and purposefully kept her tone as neutral as physically possible.

"Uh, come again?" James responded stopping his pace.

Ashley stopped and turned back around, "I'm curious, why didn't you ever give me a nickname? You call everyone else by some other name entirely."

"Huh, guess I never really thought about it. Ashley just seemed to fit you, so I stook with it." James began walking again, "Anyway, what kind of settlement are we headed to? We expecting trouble?" Attempting to change the subject, as a second nature maneuver.

Ashley walked beside him, "Not perticularly, but this planet is known for its involvement with the Blue Suns mercenary group, and considering they employ batarians I can't say trouble would surprise me."

"Not a fan of aliens? Or just batarians?" James asked.

"No, its not... It's not that, there is just a lot of bad blood between races right now, and with the reapers defeated, the galaxy doesn't have a whole lot to unite against anymore. I just wonder how the whole thing with Udina's betrayal and cerberus's involvement in attempting to help the reapers will affect humanities place in the galaxy." Ashley sighed, "I've never been a huge fan of aliens to be honest, I worked with the commander years ago when we chased down Saren and fought geth, and even then I didn't like Vakarian or Wrex having full acess to the Normandy."

"That's... suprising considering you took the role of a council spectre and that you served on the Normandy. It's not the most typical alliance ship." James respected Ashley, she had achieved the role of the second human spectre and proven herself many times to be alliance and true to humanity, so this was somewhat surprising information. 

"It's not that I hate aliens, its just more I don't or perhaps didn't trust them to actually be real allies to humanity. I remember telling Shepard this years ago when I brought up my concerns about Vakarian and Wrex on the Normandy SR1, If you're fighting a bear, and the only way for you to survive is to sic your dog on it and run, you'll do it. As much as you love your dog, it isn't human." Ashley looked upward at the sky, "But now, I'm honestly not sure anymore, this war has taken so much from the galaxy from so many different people but if what it has given us is the ability to work together as true allies in bettering the galaxy then at least some good has come from it."

"So, what's the assault rifle for?" James eyed her heavier load-out raising an eyebrow.

Ashley laughed slightly, "I'm still a realist James, If push comes to shove I plan to get back to earth."

James just smirked in response, "Yeah, I get that. Lead the way amiga"

Ashley glared at the lieutenant with a half smile on her face, "You just wanna stare at my ass." Ashley teased as she continued forward.

She wasn't wrong, the view was very nice, but truth be told it was her lips that really did it for him. They not only looked amazing but the things she could do with them put her military history accomplishments to shame. If he was going to be with someone, it would have to be someone like her; but this wasn't the time. He was going to leave for N7 training as soon as this whole mess was figured out and that did not leave a whole lot of room for a personal life outside of the alliance, especially with a council spectre.


	9. Go Away Death... I'm Not Ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard

Citadel

"Without the Keepers, this place is a mess." A voice? Footsteps? Shepard wasn't sure how long she'd been out since first coming to after firing the crucible, but she was still alive. Her throat felt dry, her mouth cottony, and her body felt stiff. She was definitely dehydrated, she opened her mouth to yell. No good, she couldn't make a sound more than a whisper. Again....Nothing.... She moved her arm picking up a piece of rubble near her and throwing it. The sound echo'd and the voices could be heard again. 

"What the hell was that!?" A man said frantically.

"Lets check it out, I swear if it is one of those creepy Keepers, I'm killing it for good measure." Shepard again could head footsteps coming closer. It wasn't long before they noticed.

"Sir, I think theirs a body over here!" The footsteps sounded almost on top of her. 

"That's impossible, all the bodies had been collected on the lower levels." Another voice replied. Shepard raised her hand, she didn't have the energy or the ability to speak. 

"Holy shit, they're alive!" She could hear rubble being moved around her, she turned her head to face them. One was dressed in alliance uniform, clearly a squad leader. The other in C-Sec garb, looking younger than the normal C-sec officers. Likely he was enlisted during the reaper invasion, they had taken on quite a few civilian recruits who wanted to help the war effort anyway they could. The alliance officer's eyes widened as her gaze met his. 

"Commander Shepard?!" The officer turned to the other man, "Get commander Bailey on coms, tell him we found the commander." The officer moved over to Shepard, beginning to move rubble off safe spots on her body. "We'll get you out of here commander, hang on!" She could overhear the C-Sec officer telling Bailey where they were and to send a medical team as well. 

It took a couple hours to safely remove all the rubble and get the commander stabilized enough for transport. She was in and out of consciousness for the majority of the process. Right away they identified the cause of the commanders numbness, her implants across her body were altered with reaper technology, it was the technology used in the lazerous project and likely the reason they ceased functionality to some degree after the Crucible was fired. The implants connected not only to vital organs but were riddled along her CNS, but because of the seamless integration into her organic body, not every part of the implants failed. Core functionality remained in a majority of systems and for the most part, her body was functioning without the help of the implants. Over the years the stem cells used in the lazerous project have all for the most part developed and replaced most all of the implants functionality well before this, leaving only certain neurons and biotic abilities at a disadvantage.


	10. That Little Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James/Ashley

"Traynor said this was the base she raised on the comms?" Vega whispered as the peered through the jungle line. The view before them was all but inviting: it seems the reapers had hit this place as well, the building before them lay in ruin. At one time it seemed to be a factory or mining facility of some kind, but now the giant structure was split open. Even at their distance they could see the scorch lines of the reaper's energy beam and multiple bits of the structure scatter the dead ground before them.

"Definitely not what I was expecting either." Ashley intently surveyed the scene, there was no movement and for such a planet with extensive wildlife, she no longer heard even birds in the sky. Their walk here had been riddled with all sorts of various noises. "Well one things for sure, something is not right. I'm going to follow the tree line west see if I can get a better view from there."

James knew his heavier armor wasn't built exactly for stealth, he functioned in it better than most but Joker wasn't lying when he said it messed with spacial awareness, at least to some degree. Vega just nodded to Ashley as she headed off, keeping his gaze fixed on the building ahead.

The whole situation felt wrong to Ashley, it's not like she expected the evil to be purged from the galaxy after the reapers were defeated, but why respond to comm channels with this location if something wasn't up. The jungle line was easy to follow; keeping her eyes on the demolished structure, the feeling of unease did nothing but increase. The building itself may of looked like an industrial type of structure at first glance, but as she rounded towards the back of the building the situation felt even more wrong. The energy beam that split the building had caused much of the back to collapse, giving Ashley a clearer view of the inside or what was left of it. Large amounts of glass laid shattered within the rubble, broken tubing could be seen throughout the buildings walls. Whatever this was, it was not a mining facility, it was definitely research of some kind. There didn't seem to be any lights or power to the building from what she could tell, and there was still no movement.

"James, lets head in, it'll be easier the get inside from back here. Maybe something happened in the last couple hours to scare off whoever responded on the comms, but right now it's all clear." Vega heard her clearly through his omnitool and began walking along the same path she took towards the back of the building. Upon seeing James they headed towards the rubble. Ashley was still baffled at the lack of animal noise and kept on edge, James seeing this, followed suit.

Climbing over the rubble posed little to no obstacle, Ashley started right in on inspecting the tubing. James on the other hand began scouting out the building itself. "Someone has definitely been through here." James could see down to the lower levels from atop the rubble.

"What makes you say that lieutenant," Ashley responded via omnitool after looking at the tubing and deciding someone went to great lengths to attempt to disguise this building as a mining facility.

"Looks like the remains of a campsite one level down, I don't see an access yet though, I'll keep looking for a way down that doesn't involved breaking my neck." Ashley could hear James moving through the rubble even where she was. She continued her own investigation, broken data-pads and shattered monitors littered much of this floor. With all the tubing and glass she at first envisioned her own little horror film similar to the humans getting turned into husks at Sanctuary on Horizon but this looked different. Whatever these people were working on it didn't seem to be living things, too many computers and data-mining machinery.

Ashley turned quickly towards the direction she last heard Vega as a loud thudding sound echoed through the building. "James! You okay?" Ashley said over comms.

"Yeah, just... you know... finding the way down, I suggest you find another though." She heard him through her omnitool but a couple seconds later she faintly heard what seemed like very angry spanish. She continued to search through the datapads scattered across the rubble. The mystery of the facility was getting the better of her. She had come here not only thinking this to be a settlment, but more so wanted to know why someone would try so hard to hide whatever it was they were doing here. To her surprise one of the data-pads flicked on. The screen itself didn't seem to respond, stuck on an open Email addressed to multiple people from a company called: Novum.

 

_Artifact Recovery Date: October 24th, 2186_  
_Mass effect fields have been implemented to shield the artifact, following protocols discovered by Commander Shepard's AI in Dr. Bryson's Lab. Research is to begin on psycho-neural energy emissions in the next 2 weeks, once the artifact is secured and proven stable. Psychoanalysis of scientists are to occur daily to ensure no "indoctrination" like effects._

_"The Novum project would like to offer you all the opportunity to help fund the betterment of our galaxy by discovering our origins. On August 3rd, 2186 Commander Jane Shepard discovered the creators of the machines we've come to know only as the reapers, but who built those machines? Where did they come from? Thanks again to the efforts of Commander Jane Shepard, we learned those answers and now are left with more. What are the creatures known only as the Leviathans? Do they pose a threat to galactic civilization? If they were intelligent enough to create the reapers, we have so much we could learn from them. With your donation these answers could help shape our future in learning more about these creatures before it is too late. Are they really here to help? The Novum project is here to figure that out..."_

The rest of the email couldn't be seen due to data pads busted screen, but nothing more really needed to be said for Ashley to know that it was time to leave, If the artifact had been shielded via mass effect fields, even if it held through the reaper attack, it definitely didn't work right now. "James, head back up, we're leaving." Ashley remembered reading the report of the incident on Mahavid and finding Dr. Garneau. An artifact that can mess with human minds and take control? No thank you, that not something we wanted to mess around with and understanding it was far above James or her pay-grade. "James! Now!" Ashley sent another message over her omnitool, only to hear silence.


	11. Everyone Deserves To Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tali/Liara

"It wouldn't kill you to take a break now and again." Liara stood in the doorway to the AI core aboard the Normandy. The core itself looked as clean as the first day she'd boarded the ship, if one didn't know better you wouldn't think it unfunctional just looking at it. 

"What was that saying Shepard used once? I'll sleep when I'm dead?" Tali had just an hour ago finally gotten her little droid's VI working again. It wasn't the most complex intelligence or even close to a true artificial one, but when she asked for it to produce a schematic on holo, it no longer tried to light her on fire instead. Tali stood from her crouched position to face Liara, closing the scan on her omnitool. "Joker came and asked me to take a look at EDI, and to be honest I feel guilty I hadn't done it before today. We'd been so focused on getting the fusion core up and running again to provide full power to systems that I haven't had time to even visit ..." Tali paused for a moment, "her." Clearly deciding if she should call EDI , 'it' or 'her'. 

Liara frowned, "Tali, you've been working day and night for the last couple days, you have nothing to feel guilty about. Yes, EDI could function without the fusion core operational, but without that we can't leave this planet. I'm sorry but you have nothing to feel guilty about, I miss EDI as much as everyone else does, but fixing her AI likely isn't going to be a process completed in a few hours." Liara looked down, Tali had a point though, if one of the organic crew members died or was dieing and they had a chance to be healed, they would of focused resources on that. When Garrus was wounded on the final push, the micro core's power was used mainly to power the med-bay through his surgery, ensuring he'd be safe and that power wasn't use to help repair the Normandy til Dr. Chakwas gave the clear. No one even batted an eye at that, it was the obvious decision, but no one has poured resources into repairing EDI. "How does EDI look by the way?"

"I'm going to be honest, I'm not cut out for repairs on EDI. I've spent a good amount of my life studying the geth and her AI is vastly different. Furthermore, I don't even have updated schematics on the geth's new neural network after their reaper upgrades, when they formed their true AI. So all in all, I... I have no idea how to even start bringing her back online." The room grew silent. Only recently did the galaxy come to terms, if you could even call it that, with synthetic life being valued like organic life. The quarians had the most experience with synthetics and paved the way in their actions with the loss of Rannoch, to not only fear the geth but to really look at the consequences of synthetic life. Then, during Sovereign's attack on the citadel, the geth were seen as the main enemy along with Sarin, making the galaxy hate not only them, but remember why the quarians were viewed with such disgust as well, for creating such things. And, if all that wasn't enough, the reapers were an intelligent synthetic life that did nothing but kill off all advanced organic life every 50,000 years. Long story short: accepting synthetics has not been easy and it would be foolish to think that some people won't find what happened in firing the crucible a good thing on multiple fronts.

Liara finally moved towards the quarian, placing a hand on her shoulder pulling her in. "No one expected you to fix everything by yourself Tali. If EDI can be fixed, we will fix her. Perhaps not today, or even before we return to Earth, but we will fix her." Tali returned the hug, she was exhausted to say the least and feeling the pressure of another person helped more than she thought it ever would. 

"You seem a whole lot better now Liara, you seemed pretty down earlier today, Traynor had said she was worried about you." Liara pulled away staring at the quarian.

"Did she now?" Liara smiled, "I guess I'd forgotten how valuable information really was for a bit there, no matter how small..." Liara paused changing the subject, "You'd never guess who came to cheer me up though." Liara knew Tali, and she knew Tali's weaknesses. Liara may be the shadow-broker and enjoyed being informed on all aspects of information in the galaxy, but no one got quite as giddy about gossip as Tali did. 

"Oh? Who?" Tali responded interest clearly peeked.

"Javik." Liara smiled, to be honest it was kind of fun messing with the quarian, so she made sure to give her a really seductive smile before saying, "but don't tell anyone, its a secret." 

"You're kidding!" Tali's voice was of clear surprise and a couple octaves higher than normal, "I knew it! I knew he liked you!" Tali faintly remembers even teasing the prothean about the arrangement on the night after destroying the Cerberus base, only faintly though, alcohol was not always her friend. Liara was happy she was able to bring a smile to the quarians face, even if she may of embellished a bit, everyone needed something to take their minds off this mess. Liara dramatically turned heel to head out of the AI core. 

"Oh no no no, details!" Tali rushed after her.


	12. Is What You Did... Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda/Shepard

The door to her hospital room slid open and Shepard turned her head from the news vid before her. "You know, not many people survive multiple suicide missions." Miranda Lawson said as she lowered her drenched hood and found a seat on the couch near the medical bed. 

"Well, I just wanted to save you a few billion credits and skip the resurrection process." Shepard smiled her usual cheeky smile towards the woman. 

"Thanks for that Shepard, though I knew you'd come through in the end, you always do." Miranda grabbed the data pad siting on the table next to her bed, reading over the medical report.

Shepard turned back towards the news vid, "It pretty much just says I shouldn't be alive." Shepard's face was more solemn now, her mind drifting back to the reality of this post reaper situation.

"I assume you're aware then?" Miranda asked, laying the data pad back onto the table.

"That because of me, thousands of Geth, EDI, and the mass relay out of this system has been destroyed?" Shepard continued to watch the news vid reporting on Earth causality numbers and plans for the immediate future.

"I see you've forgotten about the trillions of lives across the galaxy that you also saved in doing so." Miranda just stared at the commander, it was clear Shepard felt immense guilt over her actions. When she had destroyed the alpha relay, annihilating tens of thousands of batarian colonist, she had a similar look about her. It was the look of not only guilt but a sense of longing, longing for the answer to the question: Can I ever live with myself again? "Also, does that mean you've heard from the Normandy? You know EDI is gone?"

Shepard turned the news vid off as soon as it went to commercial, "What? ... No, I just assumed; It seemed anything that contained any reaper code in anyway was destroyed when the crucible fired." The room went silent for a couple minutes, neither knowing exactly what to say at this point. Miranda was thrilled that her friend was alive and well, but she at the same time burned with so many questions for the commander. Shepard on the the other hand, didn't know what to say to anyone on the topic. When she had destroyed the alpha relay, she felt sorrow and remorse for the lives lost that day but she felt justified. The galaxy was in no way ready for the reapers then and stood no chance against them in their current state, her only option was to destroy the relay. She didn't get a choice with options that affected literally everyone, it was black and white... or at least it seemed that way back then.

"Did you know that's what the crucible would do once fired?" Miranda asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No." A lie, Shepard wasn't usually a liar, if anything she sucked at keeping secrets. She pushed for people to be open and honest with one another, because no real friendship or alliance could ever be built on lies. But as with anyone who ever does lie, she viewed this as the best course of action. She wasn't sure of her own reasoning in telling the lie though, she feared that if people found out everyone could of been saved had she chosen another way, the peace she and so many others had fought to achieve, would be torn apart by infighting - not only blaming her for the state of the galaxy but humanity as well. Or, if it was because she was so ashamed that she knowingly sacrificed synthetic lives to allow normality for organics.

Miranda smiled, "I doubt you would of fired it had you known, Shepard. You always were an everyone wins kind of woman." Her face grew more serious, "I'm glad you did fire it though, the galaxy owes you a debt it will likely never be able to repay. I owe you a debt that I can't even begin to repay, because of you my sister is not only free of my father and alive, but so am I. I could never of been here without you Shepard, thank you. Again."

Shepard smiled gently, "Garrus did say I liked to hog the button pushing at the end of each mission; But I should also be thanking you, literally wouldn't of been possible, any of this, without you and apparently you put me together so well when you brought me back that I'm immortal now." 

"Let's not test that anymore, alright Shepard." Miranda stood up and moved towards the window. The view here was like almost everywhere else Miranda had been since landing on Earth almost a week ago: messy and rainy. Collapsed buildings and upturned streets could be see across the city. Luckily this hospital actually not only functioned as such during the war for military officials, but the surrounding area was made into a central command for the Alliance. Now after the war, the area still functions as a main military location. Less than a mile from the hospital, the leaders from the various fleets that assisted in the final push against the reapers were meeting to discuss the next step in recovering from this war. "I take it you still can't feel much?"

Shepard frowned at Miranda, caught off guard by the entirely new line of questioning, "Come again?"

"Your body, the chart said you're implants were fried and you've lost a great deal of touch sensations and that you're having trouble feeling pain or pleasure." Miranda remained looking outside.

"Yeah, the doctors said I likely never will again." Shepard replied.

Miranda turned towards Shepard, only smiling, "We'll see about that."


	13. The Simple Moments Give Us Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker/Javik/Garrus/Cortez

"You guys seem like you're working hard." Joker said as he wobbled through the doorway to the Normandy's lounge area. He was well aware in all reality each of the people at that table, aside from possibly Javik had likely done more work that day than he'd done since the crash landing, but it wouldn't be the same if he didn't give them a hard time still.

"Well, some more than others," Garrus flared a mandible outward eyeing Cortez across the table.

"Primatives and their childish games." Javik said staring at the 5 cards in his hands. Sitting next to the prothean was Cortez, who seemingly got distracted on his way from engineering. 

"I don't recall anyone forcing you to still play Javik." Cortez replied peering over his obnoxiously built wall of poker chips. 

"I don't think any of us are playing willingly at this point, I'm just trying not to arrive back home absolutely broke." Garrus said as he threw another chip into the pile in the center. This obviously set Javik further on edge as he was dwindling down to his last couple of chips. The prothean preceeded to glared all four eyes towards the turian, attempting to make a read on his possible bluff. 

Joker shook his head as he took a seat on the couch, proping his leg up. Since the crash landing, he stress fractured his already bad knee, he didn't require assistance through a cane or crutches, but it needed to be relieved of pressure now and again. 

"You must be joking!" Javik exclaimed when Cortez again took the pile of poker chips from the center of the table a couple minutes later.

"Sorry big guy, rules are rules." Cortez said, stifling a laugh as he collected the chips, adding to the 'great wall of poker-chips'.

"Yeah, I think I'm done here," Garrus began transferring credits through his omnitool to Cortez. "Suddenly calibrating a totally nonfunctional thanix cannon sounds way more fun than playing against you anymore, Cortez." He stood up grabbing the cane Dr. Chakwas had given him.

Cortez laughed as he dramatically hid behind his poker chip wall, watching Garrus leave the lounge area. "Well anytime either of you want to take on the reigning champion again, please, come find me." 

Joker smiled, seeing the crew like this, he hadn't seen it since that night at Shepard's appartment. It was odd to think about his crewmates in this kind of light, where responsibility and impending doom looming over everything each one held dear, wasn't a reality.

"I believe I am also finished with this primitive game, in my cycle games of chance were punishable by death and I believe I can see why." Javik stood from his seat as well, following Garrus from the room. 

Cortez remained smiling over his victory, setting the poker chips back in place at the table. "Care to join in Joker? We can start fresh."

Joker laughed, "No thank you, my dignity is just fine where it is." Silence filled the room then, and Joker had a feeling what was coming next, it always did when awkwardness touched a conversation.

"I'm sor..." Cortez began to say before Joker cut him off.

"She's not gone." Joker said as serious and convincingly as he could, "You saw Garrus, if anyone is going to lose his shit over losing someone he should be the first. If he can believe the commander is still alive, I can believe EDI is still alive." 

Cortez looked a little ashamed, he hadn't had much of an opinion on the Joker/EDI situation, he didn't understand it on multiple levels, but he believed love took all forms and appeared between all sorts of different people. He also sympathized with Joker on losing the love of his life, especially since he'd lived through that loss himself, but it was clear Joker was not ready to accept that possibility yet. He was still in denial. "You're right." Cortez replied while he finished up putting the table back to its normal layout. He knew Joker wasn't ready to hear any other possibilities yet, and Cortez didn't feel qualified to tell him either way. Cortez's omnitool finally went off, breaking another bout of silence, when the credit transfer was completed from Garrus. "Thats odd." Cortez said as he looked at his omnitool. 

"What?" Joker looked over to him, starting to rub the slowly numbing knee cap. 

"Ashley and James should of been back by now. They've been gone almost 5 hours, I hadn't realized time got away from me so fast." Cortez's brows came together as he headed out, "Gonna go see if Traynor knows anything about this."


	14. Good To Know, We're Not Alone...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James/Ashley

"Hijo de puta!" James exclaimed as his ass hit the concrete foundation of the building. Bits of dust and debris began to settle from the floor giving way as he stood up, staring at his surroundings. White boards with smeared writing, blackened monitors, and open circuit boards littered the walls of this basement room. For the most part the room itself was empty of furniture or equipment of any sort, all that remained was the remanence of a campsite. James dusted off his armor moving towards the long burnt out coals inside the stone circle. There were two sleeping bags surrounding the makeshift campfire, and various utensils and kitchenware. Whoever was here, had made themselves at home. James knelt down to sift through the stack of data-pads collected near one of the sleeping bags. 

"Put your hands in the air, slowly." James could hear the charge of the heat-sink of a pistol far too close to his hear. He put his hands up slowly, dropping the data-pad he had picked up. 

"Easy now, I'm not here to hurt anyone. We're the ones who had radio'd ahead asking for supplies." James slowly began to turn around.

"Do not. Move" The voice was masculine, and verging on robotic in mannerisms, each word carefully planned out. 

"James, head back up, we're leaving." Ashley's words came through his omnitool clearly. James said nothing, slowly moving his right arm inward.

"Move again. And I will. Kill you." James could feel the hard metal of the gun barrel press against his head.

"Alright, alright. So where do we go from here?" James returned his hands to their original position in clear line of sight. 

"You will join us. Below." James could feel the guns on his back being unstrapped one by one, while the pistol remained pressed to the back of his head. "We have observed and now we have understood. This cycle has survived the harvest, it is... different. It is adequate." James could hear hear both of his guns drop to the floor and be kicked away. 

"James! Now!" Ashley's voice came through his omnitool again. 

"She's pretty persistent. Probably should respond." James didn't dare move his arm again. 

"No. She too will join us." James could feel the pressure of the gun be removed from the back of head only to be followed seconds later by dulling blackness.


	15. Knock Knock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley

The drop was bigger than she had expected, fresh rubble and debris consumed the basement floor of the building. "James!" Ashley yelled this time instead of using her omnitool, only to receive nothing but her own echo from below. She could physically make a jump from this height with relative safety, but where Jame's heavy armor had protected his body during his fall, a sprained or twisted ankle in this situation wasn't worth the risk. Ashley crouched down, looking further along the basement floor ahead of her. 

"Bingo." Ashley could barely see the campsite, her view blocked at an awkward angle from the partially collapsed ceiling. Ashley followed the wall of the floor she was on, looking for a safer way down into he basement, even another collapsed entrance would do, so long as some rubble connected the two floors allowing her to climb down instead of jump. 

Minutes went by, which in her sense of urgency it felt much longer than it actually was, before she found an intact stairwell leading downward. She followed the stairway descending into the basement. The door to the basement itself wasn't operational without power, forcing her to pry it open. She could see the campsite across the room, the long dead coals still sat neatly in the center of the stone circle. The two sleeping bags were left untouched, only a pile of data-pads lay scattered across the ground. Ashley unhitched her assault rifle from her back and held it at the ready as she proceeded forwards. She scanned the area intently, looking for any signs of James. It wasn't until she got closer to the campsite she saw his two guns laying against the far wall. She pivoted on her heels looking around the room quickly before almost stepping on the remenance of an omnitool attachment. She knelt down, picking up the almost destroyed device. It functioned as the interface for the omnitool itself, without it the handheld system wouldn't do anything. She closed her hands around the small device and clenched her teeth, looking around the room again. It wasn't long before she saw a path of cleared away debris leading further east, into the darkness of the basement. Since the power had gone out and she was two stories underground, the only light she had was the sun shining through the destroyed framework of the building itself, but the basement was massive, various beams could be seen holding the foundation in place.

Ashley turned on her omnitool's flashlight and headed deeper into the darkness of the basement, following the pathway clear of debris. She was definitely on edge at this point, and thoughts of being in some horror film did nothing to help her mental stability as she could hear her footsteps echo in the emptiness of this section of the foundation. With her gun kept at the ready she finally spotted another doorway on the furthest eastern wall and headed for it. 

Similar to all the other doors in this facility, it wasn't functional, but it had been kept partially open for, what one could assume, as ease of travel. Peering through the doorway showed her another set of stairs leading downward again. Ashley knew the floor she was on, had to be the foundation for the building itself, the pillars connecting the floors were too large for anything else, and the emptiness of the large open room supported the claim as well. So why then, was there another staircase leading downward? She inhaled calmly, preparing herself mentally in an attempt to stave off the creeping fear of not only now being alone, but that something has happened to a very well trained marine. The doors made little to no noise as Ashley peeled them open far enough to slide through, the only light she had was through her omnitool at this point as she descended down the stairs as carefully as she could.

The staircase was long, spiraling downward in a column, deep into the ground. It was a much longer decent than Ashley had anticipated, but in her time spent descending she discovered debris and fresh dirt on the stairs themselves. She was not alone in going down these stairs, what she couldn't tell is if the fresh dirt was from James or someone else entirely. 'Could be something else I suppose' the thought flashed through her mind, 'Great, Ash, continue to freak yourself out. Your love for horror movies is reallllly coming in handy now isn't it?' Ashley forced her thoughts to quiet and focus on the task at hand, especially as she could see light emanating from the doorway ahead just below her, at the end of the circular staircase.


	16. It's Never What We Hope For...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traynor/Cortez

The CIC was for the most part empty. Since the crash landing and having to run on bare minimum systems, very few people felt the need to be there anymore. Teaynor was the exception to this. Over the last few days since the crash she has made it her goal to get communication channels back up, at least on their end, and spent almost every waking hour in this area. 

Sure enough, Cortez found the young woman slumped over under the desk to the comm station fast asleep. "Traynor!" The woman shot upward hitting her head on the bottom of the desk. 

"Ow!" Traynor grabbed her head sitting back down while looking around to find Cortez. "Sorry, I must of napped longer than I'd planned" The woman crawled out from under the desk and stood up, smiling at him while rubbing the top of her head. 

"I'd say, I take it you haven't heard from Vega or LT. Commander Williams?" Cortez moved closer to the woman, peering at the computer. 

"I was tired, not incompetent, if they'd of checked in I'd of heard it." Ashley looked at the clock on her omnitool and frowned, "though, it is much later than I'd thought." Turning around to her communications equipment she tried to raise them. "Normandy to LT. Commander Williams, come in Williams." Static. "Williams, do you copy?" Static. Traynor switched channels, "Lieutenant Vega, do you read?" Traynor frowned again turning towards Cortez, "Something's wrong, I can't get a link to either of their omnitools." She switched channels again, "Normandy to outpost 2315 Zorya settlement." Static once again was the only response. "What the hell is going on, all the channels are green lit on our end for functionality, just nothing is connecting."

"Thought you said you'd fix it?" Cortez moved to stand next to her, peering at the computer. 

"I did!" She snapped in reply, "Everything is functioning, short range communications worked perfectly a couple hours ago." Traynor began pulling up system functions onto different monitors. 

"They're not out of range, right?" Cortez was starting to become at a loss, he knew very little in lines of telecommunication systems or how they were hardwired to function.

Traynors only response was a look that Cortez hadn't seen since Javik told Tali he was a better engineer than her and he was the worst in his cycle. To say the least, he felt any verbal response or further questioning might risk his body's current functionality.  
"None of this makes any sense, its like we're being cut off from that area, but to do something like that you'd have to have mass effect fields to isolate themselves." Traynor continued to send out pulses of signal to try and triangulate what or where the problem was. "Either way, we're cut off til I can figure out what's going on. I know where they were headed, we may have to send a rescue team out if we don't hear back from them soon." 

"Thought you said they headed towards a settlement?" Cortez asked as he watched her work.

"They did, everything I received from the settlement checked out. Our data banks even confirmed a registered human settlement was in that area, that it was operational even after a reaper attack, and I heard the person respond and confirm they had supplies to spare." Traynor began to pull up the data banks, combing through the information again.

"I'll let Garrus know, since Williams is gone, he'd be next in command." Cortez said as he pulled up Normandy's short range voice channels on his omnitool.


	17. It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hackett/Victus/Wrex/Shala'Raan

"The problem isn't with only repairing this mass relay, it's repairing all of them." Admiral Hackett hadn't thought the time after the war would be quite like this. "The galaxies best scientists were gathered in this system for the creation of the crucible, repairing the Sol system's relay has already begun, but without confirmation that the other relays are functional there is no way we can send a vessel through, even once it's repaired."

"Do we know how long that will take?" Primarch Victus was the first to speak up. This was the first time in the history of this cycle's civilization that multiple galactic war leaders sat around the same table in person. 

"We expect this relay to be operational within the month." Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay announced, lowering a data pad to the table. 

"A month!?" Wrex was less than amused at this announcement. "I have an army of genophage cured krogan itching to get back to Tuchanka. How exactly do you pyjacks expect this to play out? We had to sedate half the army just to transport them to this battlefield without them killing each other."

"Well the news only get worse" Admiral Shala'Raan slid the data pad over to wrex, "Thanks to our new found rachni allies, we're able to confirm all the mass relays across the galaxy were also destroyed in firing the crucible. Which, as Admiral Hackett pointed out earlier, the vast majority of our brightest minds are here in the Sol System. This will cause the other relays to take significantly longer to repair."

"If the rachni are able to communicate efficiently without the relays and mass effect fields, can we forward repair schematics to home world systems, at least to speed up the repairs?" Admiral Hackett asked. 

"That actually could work, since their flight and innerspace travel doesn't revolve around the use of mass effect fields or relays, they could speed up this process significantly." Matriarch Lidanya, captain of the Citadel's flagship: Destiny Assention was the next to share her opinion. "Though, even for them traveling from the Sol system's relay to say the far rim near Rannoch will take some significant time."

"I'm sure you all are aware, but scientists and engineers aren't exactly common on Tuchanka, and that was before the reapers attacked. Even with the repair instructions, the Aralakh relay would be near impossible for my people to repair alone." Wrex wasn't thrilled at where this was going, he had not forseen this outcome at all, and he knew his people were at a severe disadvantage in space travel without the assistance of the other species.

The room grew silent for a bit. Even after the war there was animosity among the leaders. Not everyone was thrilled the genophage had been cured to begin with and the fact the krogan on Tuchanka may be confined to their home system for an extended period of time didn't seem like so much of a bad idea. Many people, including the war time leaders at the table, were concerned at Wrex's next actions and the actions of the krogan species as a whole.

"We were the turning force in this war." Wrex finally said slamming a hand on the table. He turned to face the Primarch, "There would be no Palavin without the krogan. Do not repeat history Victus, give my people the chance they deserve." 

Victus clenched his jaw and kept his mandibles tight to his face, looking down. This was a big decision, one he had to make without council of any kind from his own people. He knew when he took this job he wasn't cut out to be a political figure head, to be honest he had planned to step down as primarch after the war, he was content being the war time leader that lead his people to victory over the reapers. Part of him had even wished he'd of died in the final push so he wouldn't have to deal with these repercussions and all the politics that came after the war. "What you said is true, Palavin would of fell without krogan support, and we paid for that assistance in curing the genophage for your people. Are you now asking my people to assist the krogan as allies? Or do you plan to try and milk the reaper war for all you can get, just as your people did in the rachni wars?"

Wrex glared across the table at the Primarch, "I do not plan to repeat the mistakes of Overlord Kredak. The krogan have their own world to fix, and while my people do plan to take advantage of a cured genophage, we will do so in a different way, Urdnot Bakara has already begun uniting the clans under one unified rule that will focus on rebuilding a civilization not focused around galactic domination. That does not, however, change the fact the krogan again were a turning force in this war and will be again in the future. For that, we deserve new homeworlds but we will not take them through military force, of that I can promise you."

Primach Victus nodded, weather Wrex believed it or not, history does repeat itself but as he saw with Commander Shepard's actions throughout this war, there is always hope for change, especially now. He was still concerned about the krogan's population numbers but he could see Wrex was a determined leader and he would not go down in history as the primarch who started another krogan rebellion. "We will help the best we can Wrex, as allies." The statement was received with mixed silent reactions. No one was going to verbally oppose the Primarch's choice, but Matriarch Lidanya frowned at the idea. She was well aware Asari controlled space was closest the the Aralahk relay, but she had no political power of the Asari government here. She had been invited as a kind gesture to represent those of her people who chose to fight with the crucible since she captained the Asari's citadel flagship. On the other hand though, Admiral Hackett smiled at the alliance, he was proud of Shepard and knew this was thanks to her efforts that these two species are able to sit here today as allies. To little surprise, Admiral Raan shared no obvious opinion on the alliance, her helmet covered the small facial expression changes, if there were any, and it made sense that her primary concern was on the other half of the galaxy. This left little immediate concern for krogan/turian troubles. 

"The final order of business for today," Admiral Hackett spoke up again, in an effort to keep the meeting moving along, "as we're all aware the citadel for the most part has been destroyed, it can be rebuilt, but as the leaders of our respective races that fought in this galactic war, I wish to know your opinions of what is to become of the Council's position in this galaxy."

"That is not something we can decide here and now Admiral, I am not a full representation of the Asari people and since the council was founded by the Asari, it would be unfair to decide anything today." Matriarch Lidanya was the first to respond.

"I don't believe what the Alliance Admiral is getting at has to necessarily do with the Asari." Primarch Victus was the next to share his input, staring at Admiral Hackett, "Are you suggesting abolishing the council?"

"That is not something you can do either, Primarch! The council was founded as ambassadors to our respective people, hell the salarians aren't even at this meeting. This point is mute!" The matriarch did not like where this was going.

"They weren't here in full force for the final attack against the reapers either!" Wrex was the first to jump onto the salarian topic, "They attempted to sabotage my people's cure! The salarians have no place in a new galactic council! I will not stand for it!"

"War against them isn't something you want either, Wrex. You're going to have to let that go." Admiral Hackett was the only one to respond to the krogan leader. "The Primarch was right though, what I am asking today isn't necessarily to re-establish a new council, but to alter what we have in place and to possibly find a better way. I understand the citadel stood as the center point to this galaxy for hundreds of years. It functioned to bring species together as a unified force that attempted to maintain peace" Wrex snorted in response, but said nothing, letting the Admiral continue. "I do not think abolishing the Citadel and the Council is necessary, but this war has shown what species have the best interest in the galaxy at hand and which have used their knowledge and resources for their own personal gain..."

"Which, let me remind you all, every species has done. My people did not keep the Prothean artifact's knowledge hidden solely for personal gain. Its knowledge benefited thousands of lives on the citadel..." The matriarch again spoke up.

"That may be true, but the Asari did nothing to share this knowledge in response to commander Shepard's accusations of the incoming reaper invasion. This war could of went differently, had we known of the catalyst and the Prothean beacon on Thesia we could of prepared." Hackett responded to her concerns, cutting her off. "What I am saying, in this new galaxy, no longer controlled by cycles of extinction, where we go from here will forever shape our future as a whole and I believe we should look to the species who have proven to have the galaxy's best interests in mind."

The room grew silent. This was a big topic, a future changing topic and not something that would be decided right now. 

"Think on everything I've said here today, we will reconvene in one weeks time. I also would like to announce, Commander Shepard was found three days ago, alive and is currently receiving medical care here at our medical facility. I know many of us knew her personally and in three days time after her debriefing she will be allowed visitors." Admiral Hackett stood, watching the responses from around the room. Smiles filled everyone's faces, she was a war hero and millions of lives were saved thanks to her actions throughout the last few years. 

"I knew it!" Wrex was the first to verbally say something on the topic, laughing, "if I didn't know better I'd of thought she was a krogan!"

"What of the Normandy?" Admiral Shaala'Raan was the next to inquire further.

"Still no word either way, they didn't arrive at the rendezvous point, but were also not found in the wreckage of the citadel or among any of the ships during the final fight. For all purposes the ship and her crew are still MIA." Admiral Hackett was content to close the meeting on that note as he headed towards the door. Settlements and repairs on ships were already taken care of and well underway before this meeting through informal channels. Earth had taken such a massive hit in population counts that supplying locations and space for the other species who chose to be on Earth over remaining in their starships was no problem, especially since many of them were more than happy to help set up housing. Good feelings and intentions were still alive in everyone over this victory, Hackett just wondered how long all of that would last before they felt the strain of being homesick and food reserves began to run low.


	18. Hold On... Just A Little Longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus

Since the crash Garrus always had to prepare himself before entering the room before him. The seconds this ritual took felt like awkward minutes as he had to convince himself that this was necessary and prepare his senses for the onslaught of memory and repressed emotion. When he wasn't here, he could drown out the gnawing thoughts and memories of Shepard that plagued the back of his mind with current events. But here... here he couldn't stop them. 

A deep breath. He opened the door to Shepard's Cabin. It looked as immaculate as the day she'd left it, which was no small feat on his part considering the Normandy's environmental stabilizers were offline during the crash and the contents of the cabin were thrown in every which direction. He flared a mandible out in a smirk as he remembered the clone incident. She'd been so upset when they'd moved her damn hamster and he could still remember the adorably obnoxious grin she'd made when she strutted off the citadel with a couple Khar'shan Snapping Eel to set in the tank. Garrus's face grew more solemn as he turned to face the now empty tank. The Eels didn't survive the crash landing, the Aquarium VI Shepard had purchased had shorted out with all the other AI/VI programs and the electric discharge was strong enough to kill her prized Eels. 

"Squeeeeeek" Garrus was brought back to reality as he turned to look at the real reason he'd forced himself to return to this room on a daily basis.

"It's not like I'm late." Garrus limped over to the small mammal inside the glass tank, propping his cane against the desk. He had never been a fan of pets, hell he didn't even own a home so the idea of having a smaller creature to look after wasn't near the top of his priority list, but he was a fan of Shepard and she loved this little guy. Garrus removed the lid to the tank, grabbing some pellets out of the container to the left of the enclosure. It had taken a few days for the hamster to get used to an unfamiliar hand rooting around its cage but now he practically demanded his attention, rushing to the food dish. Garrus flared his mandibles outward into a soft smile, "She'll be back." He whispered, reassuring the hamster along with himself. After he checked to make sure the little guy had water, he closed the lid and clamped it shut. 

"Vakarian" He could hear Cortez's voice through his omnitool.

"Yes?" Garrus replied, glancing at the time in his visor. It was close to sunset now and he had yet to hear any updates on perquiring supplies from the settlement, earlier in the day. 

"We've got a situation here, meet me in the CIC with Traynor and we'll fill you in." Cortez sounded firm but turian's were excellent interrogators due to their ability to hear subtle waves in vocal harmonics. Most of the time these waves could be used to tell if someone was lying or experiencing a strong emotion. What Garrus heard in Cortez's voice lead him to believe something was indeed wrong.

"On my way." Garrus had a feeling William's and Vega's outing had not gone exactly as planned. He had wanted to join them earlier, if nothing but to speed up the repair process, but his leg still prevented him from strenuous activities. Grabbing his cane, he made his way out of the cabin and down to the CIC.


	19. One Woman Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley

Ashley's eyes opened wide as she cautiously peered around the corner through the open door at the bottom of the stairwell. Shrines and hologram projections in the shape of reapers caked the walls of what she could see of the room ahead. Large research data-mining equipment atop of desks and numerous monitors filled the room. Whatever this facility was doing before in relation to the Leviathan artifact, they had brought the majority of the equipment down here. They had even managed to restore power and she could see multiple monitors on the far northern wall with various news feeds from across the galaxy. 'How?' Ashley thought to herself squinting towards the monitors trying to read a news bulletin scrolling by on one of the screens. Moments later, her eyes were torn away towards the hallway to her left by the echo of a door closing. She couldn't see anyone yet, but heard footsteps, and quickly ducked into the room itself crouching behind the closest desk. Footsteps could be heard approaching the archway into the room, they were steady keeping the same pace and were soon in the room with her. Whoever it was, didn't hesitate to approach the wall of monitors as their footsteps stopped there, leaving the room in complete silence. Ashley held her breath calm, trying to breath slowly and steadily to not give away her position. 

"The," The sudden blaring sound of one of the news feeds almost caught Ashley off guard, she barely stifled a jump in time, "meeting held in Vancouver, Canada today housed multiple leaders from various species across that galaxy. Their goals were to discuss the repercussions and heavy losses during the Reaper invasion. Press release earlier in the day from Admiral Hackett confirmed that the mass relay's across the galaxy connecting all systems have been destroyed and rendered non-functional. Hope for various alien species was found in the aid of the Rachni. Their forces will be assisting in communicating repair schematics across systems through their unique physiology. Reporter Victoria Wallace will have more on this later... Our next story, Earth now." The news feed was again muted or turned off, there were but mere seconds of silence before a different news feed could be heard.

"Turian forces, including Primarch Adrien Victus are still unheard from, the hierarchy shall enter debates over future events in the next few days to determine their official status and if a new Primarch is to be promoted on Palaven." Ashley took the opportunity this time to peek around the desk. The man before her was human, dressed in filthy research attire and staring intently on the screens before him. This was her chance. "In other news, repairs on the Trebia system's mass relay is underway, with the drastic casualty numbers however, repairs are expected to be slow and turian scientists have little to say in regards to an estimated repair date." As the news from Palaven continued to drone on, Ashley saw the opportunity to subdue her opponent and took it. She quietly laid down her assault rifle and moved from the desk behind the middle aged man, grappling him upon her ambush. She swiftly closed off his airway with her right arm and held pressure with her left. This prevented any verbal struggle and she held the position until his body went limp. He smelled awful though, unwashed filthy clothes and body odor assaulted her sinuses. The man even looked gaunt and horribly kept upon closer inspection. It was obvious his facial hair hadn't been trimmed for some time as she laid his unconscious body on the floor gently.

'I need to find James. I've already spent far too long down here.' Ashley again remembered Shepard's report on the Leviathan creatures and their ability to telepathically communication along with take control of a persons' body, if exposed to their artifacts for any length of time. She wasn't quite sure on what that length of time was, but she knew it wasn't in her best interests to find out. She grabbed her rifle from behind the desk and headed off down the hall.


	20. We're All Selfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard

"Miranda's wasting no time I see" Shepard said as she watched a nurse switch out one of the IV bags for another with an all together different substance. The nurse had been one of the ones she'd seen regularly on rotation but they'd never spoken. Her badge stated her name was Melanie. 

"She is quite the... demanding woman." Melanie bit out, clearly frustrated. Shepard internally pitied the civilian doctors and nurses who had been assigned her case after Miranda's visit. 

"She's an acquired taste." Shepard looked up at the nurse smiling, "Thank you." She knew she had to say it, dealing with Miranda wasn't always fun or easy, especially for those she didn't view as equals, and she seriously doubted the staff would get to hear it from Miranda herself when all this was said and done.

The nurse must of felt a bit guilty for her behavior on the comment about Miranda because she quickly changed her demeanor. "Oh no! I should be thanking you commander. If working with Ms. Lawson is the worse thing in my day, I consider myself very fortunate." The nurse turned to fully face Shepard before staring at her with overwhelming admiration, "Thank you... for everything you've done commander. I'm honestly just happy I get to assist in you're recovery," she eyed the bag, "even if its something as small as changing an IV bag." 

Shepard only smiled in response, she honestly found herself hoping it wouldn't always be like this. She didn't want everyone to always be thanking her and looking like they should just be happy being in her presence. She didn't do what she did purely for the benefit of everyone else, she did a lot of it for herself and as time went on she realized this more and more, which made the thanking feel more annd more wrong. If she would come to find out that she was the only survivor of her crew, she worried if she would be able to look at her actions and still be happy that she did everything. She thought about the time that Liara had come up to her cabin in the Normandy and asked her why she was doing all this. At the time, her confession that it was to give Garrus some peace and a chance at a normal life, seemed selfish, especially since her actions would shape the future of the galaxy; But now, laying in this hospital bed, unsure if he is alive or dead, she realized the honesty behind those words. 

Melanie mistook the silence during all this as awkwardness, "Not watching the news anymore?" She said grasping for a new topic, as she stayed to ensure the change in IV solution didn't cause any unforeseen problems.

Shepard, being brought back to reality, turned to face the empty monitor on the opposing wall. "It's just repeating information at this point. To be honest, any information I really want to know about likely wont be on there first." she turned to face the nurse again eyeing the new drip bag, "Do I even want to know?" The fluid was a dull orange color and looked extremely thick. 

"It's in preparation for your surgery in the morning, Dr. Lawson hopes this concoction will dull the implant's neural connections internally." The nurse replied.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "Not sure they could get anymore dull, to be honest I could be laying on a bed of needles and likely have no clue." 

Melanie smirked, "Well, if everything goes well in the surgery, this fluid should ensure your CNS doesn't overreact right away sending you into a state of shock."

Shepard's brows drew together, "Yeah, Miranda mentioned something about a possibility of being in permanent states of pain." 

"You're actually quite lucky, from what I understand when your implants reacted to the energy released from the crucible, they weren't completely destroyed. Instead, the short circuiting ruined some neural function, but for the most part it was the implant's internal codes that were messed up." Seeing the blank look on Shepard's face caused the nurse to backtrack a bit and explain more, "What I mean is, if it wasn't for the mass amount of stem cells used in correlation with the reaper code inside those implants to speed up the stem cell's growth and guide them, you couldn't be alive right now. Hell if this would of happend a month or two ago, you would be dead for sure."

Shepard knew all this, the blank look wasn't for her lack of understanding, but her increasing lack of interest in her so called luck. The truth was, she didn't feel lucky, she felt only a gnawing fear in the back of her mind that all of this was for naught. That she wasn't going to get to live a normal life and more importantly it wasn't going to be with the man she did all this for.


	21. Chain Of Command

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus/Cortez/Traynor

"You're serious?" Garrus stared at the same screen Traynor had just swiped to. The numbers were all there, whatever was interrupting their mid/short range communication channels off the ship was resonating from the same location as the settlement LT. Commander Williams and LT. Vega had left for hours ago. 

"I don't understand, what would these people have to gain in tricking us?" Traynor began writing code against the firewall surrounding the settlement. 

"We're a fairly famous group of individuals at this point. Perhaps they wish to ransom?" Cortez honestly was grabbing at straws for a logical reason behind this.

"Cerberus?" Traynor asked, waiting for feedback from the first section of code she issued in her hack.

"If they were aware of who we were, I doubt they would be stupid enough to try and ransom anyone aboard this ship." Garrus continued to peer over Traynor's shoulder, watching the results of the lure that she had sent out minutes before. "And as far as Cerberus is concerned, that's our most likely possibility, especially if they knew who we were." 

A couple minutes went by of silence as Cortez, Traynor and Garrus watched for the results of Traynor's lure code. "So will this disable their jamming?" Cortez finally asked, feeling entirely under qualified for this line of work.

"No." Traynor responded, continuing to stare at encrypted code scrolling by on the monitor, "they aren't really jamming us, they've successfully built a communications bubble around that settlement. This bubble is protected by a multitude of complex firewalls that controls what goes in and out. Right now, we're not on the list of approved sources, so I'm sending out lines of different known communication frequencies to see if any of them will gain access into their bubble." Traynor hit a couple more buttons on the interface, "If that works, then we can at least narrow down who they might be and formulate a more informed plan, than there are bad guys, be careful."

Garrus stood up straight, releasing pressure on his abdomen caused by staying in that bent position too long. "Which by the looks of it, so far we've had no luck. We may have to send another team in anyway." 

"They'd be in the same boat as Ashley and James. Until we can either find a frequency that is allowed access or bypass their firewall manually, whoever went there would be flying blind, with no way to communicate in or out of that settlement." Traynor began configuring a new frequency to lure out. 

"They would at least know to suspect trouble." Garrus said leaning against the railing to the galaxy map. The pain medications were beginning to wear off and between the dull constant pain in his leg and the throbbing in his side, he wasn't sure which of the two injuries were going to give out first. He needed to hurry this along for multiple reasons. "Tali, Liara and Javik have all worked well together many times with Shepard. For all of Javik's personality faults, he is a qualified squad leader. Tali and Liara should be able to counter any hardware or software communication issues there as well."

"That would leave us..." Traynor decided to not finish the sentence, it was both an insult to those staying behind and to Garrus's decision making. 

"I know, but all the repairs that can be done to the Normandy without those supplies have been finished. Whatever is going on is serious enough to prevent Ashley and James from returning and that alone should tell you how serious we should take this threat." Garrus paused for a moment, biting back the increasing pain in his leg, "If you're concerned about our protection, I don't need to run to shoot a rifle." Garrus watched as the next lure went out on Traynor's monitor. "Traynor, send Tali and Liara an update on our situation and the problem in regards to communication channels and that settlement. I'll forward our plan to Javik and we'll send them out within the hour." Garrus moved towards the elevator hobbling worse than before on his cane. Neither Traynor nor Cortez saw the change the in stride.


	22. Hope and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard/Hackett

"Well, that should do it commander." Melanie adjusted the drip one last time before turning to leave. "Remember, no breakfast in the morning and try to limit your liquid intake before the surgery as well." She turned back around to face the commander, "Thank you, again... for everything you've done for us." Melanie smiled as sweetly and sincerely as she could before turning back around to the door. Her exit from the room though wasn't as fluid or graceful as she had envisioned; when she turned back to the doorway to leave she ran face first into the man standing there. She hadn't heard someone standing in the doorway, and had assumed when it opened it was her motion that triggered the door. 

"Careful now." Admiral Hackett said with a warm smile as he braced the woman's shoulders. Shepard saw the whole thing play out and couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Hackett smile that way. He stepped to the side letting the blushing nurse hurry through the doorway. "I think I may of scared the poor woman." He said to Shepard as he headed to the sofa near her bed. 

Shepard moved to get up, to salute the man before her. "Oh stop, if anything Shepard I should be saluting you." Hackett waved his hand dismissively towards her. 

Shepard settled back into her bed, "Please don't. Pretty sure I've had enough thank you's and teary eyed looks for a life time." 

Hackett's expression grew serious, "So you're saying I should cancel the knighting ceremony later?" 

Shepard glared at the admiral before replying, "With every fiber of my being, I hope that's a joke, sir." 

Hackett laughed in response, "You know you will have to at least do an interview or some kind of speech. There isn't a man woman or child at this point who doesn't know what you have done for this galaxy and they all would love to see you alive and well." 

Shepard sighed desperately wanting to change the subject, "Any word from the Normandy?" 

"No. We've searched through the wreckage near the citadel and the ship never arrived at the rendezvous point either." Hackett leaned forward, "Shepard, we've sent numerous teams and sent out multitudes of hails looking for the Normandy." He paused for a second, "I'm not saying they're gone, but we all knew this could of been a one way trip. Some of the ships destroyed during the final push were obliterated beyond recognition. If the Normandy was functional and anywhere still in this system, we would of found her by now."

Shepard took a moment to process the possibility of what Hackett was saying before inquiring further. "The news reported that all reaper technology was destroyed after the crucible was fired. EDI's AI was enhanced with reaper technology and her integration into the Normandy was seamless, I would doubt the ship was still functional afterwards if nothing else with reaper tech was." She turned her head away from the admiral, looking up to the ceiling. He didn't need to see the pain she was trying her best to hide in her face.

Admiral Hackett hated giving bad news, but this was worse than normal. If anyone deserved their happy ending it was the woman laying in the bed before him, but the only thing more cruel than bad news was pointless hope. He knew, even if the ship hadn't been destroyed in the final push itself, the ship wouldn't be functional without EDI, and if they weren't on Earth or Mars, this system wouldn't be able to support life anywhere else without assistance. They could theoretically have gone to another system, through a relay, but at this point, that news wasn't much better. If they didn't get through the relay in time they could of been destroyed when the relay's malfunctioned, trapped in hyperspace. There were thousands of less than 1% chance things that could of happend to them.

"They could of jumped systems, before the crucible was fired." Shepard finally said. "I know it's highly unlikely, and even less likely they escaped hyper space before the relay's malfunctioned. But until galaxy wide communications are up and running, we don't know for sure that they aren't safe elsewhere." 

"When you hear hooves, you think of horses, not zebras." Hackett said softly. "The odds are so unlikely, that I would hate to see you be consumed by the possibility." He paused, seeing the hope struggle to remain in her eyes, "but, if you're alive, perhaps the universe has a couple more miracles to dish out. God knows you and your crew deserve them." 

"Thank you, sir." Shepard couldn't give up hope. Hope had kept her going for so long now, hope that she and her friends would make it back from the Omega Four Relay, hope that they would surivive every reaper they managed to kill, and hope that when all this was over, they could retire some place warm. 

"Unfortunately, none of this was why I'd stopped by tonight." Hackett sat up straight, "I'm aware you're unable to give a written report on what happened on the citadel, but it's time to give me a verbal one." 

Shepard didn't respond right away. She knew this time would come, where she would need to explain the events of that night to the world and her choices. She just wasn't sure how or if she should. Looking back on it all, it seemed... unbelievable. 

"To be honest Admiral, I don't remember anything after entering the tractor beam on Earth." Her second lie in one day. She still was unsure on what she should say on the topic and even less sure if she should ever say anything, or just take the information to the grave with her. 

"I see." Hackett had no reason to doubt the commander. She had owned up and been honest even about destroying thousands of batarian colonists to delay the reaper invasion and when many in the alliance doubted her loyalties when she joined cerberus to stop the collectors she had remained honest and true to her word. He trusted the commander and thus he would continue to trust her. "If you do remember anything, I expect to be the first to know." He stood up, "Get some rest Shepard, you not only need it, but you've deserved it. I'll stop by again after your surgery tomorrow." If he was being honest with himself, he trusted Shepard but he didn't believe her.


	23. Not Like This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley

There were too many doors, too many rooms to check. Ashley had no idea of the numbers in this facility and even worse, she counted 5 rooms before she reached the end of the hallway. Anyone of them could house multiple enemies or a mind controlling artifact but one of those rooms could also house James. 'What the hell is going on...' Ashley thought to herself as she moved for the closest room, the doors weren't exactly silent on opening and there was the possibility dozens of people were in this place. She didn't fear fighting multiple people, but she also understood these people likely had no idea what they were doing, so if she could avoid killing them, she should. Ashley readied her rifle before opening the door and slipping inside. 

Ashley couldn't believe her luck, for the first time in along time karma seemed to be paying her back. The room was not only small but pretty much empty, save for a single chair in the center supporting a familiar looking marine. Ashley lowered her gun, rushing over to the man. 

"James!" She knelt down in front of him. He was clearly unconscious, his head slumped forward and his hands and feet tied to the chair itself. Ashley quickly looked around the room to get a better idea of her surroundings. Nothing but abandoned cabinets and storage containers lined the walls. She looked back to James, shaking him by the shoulders. "James! Wake up!" She was trying to keep as quiet as possible, but she needed him to be awake. She wouldn't be able to carry him out of here while still protecting themselves. She shook him just a bit harder.

His head suddenly shot upward and his eyes opened wide; they were glossed over and horribly blood shot. His mouth opened, but the sound wasn't familiar at all to Ashley, his voice seemed not his own. "Another friend of Shepard. You though are weak, much like your species. Much like all other species in this cycle." 

Ashley was taken back, she stepped away bringing up her gun to the ready out of instinct. "Who are you? Leviathan?"

"That is what your species knows us as, but soon you will know us as more." A small stream of blood began to run from James' right nostril. His eyes still unresponsive.

The blood concerned Ashley, she remembered James telling her about Dr. Bryson's experience under Leviathan direct control, it was different than at the mining facility. The medical reports showed minor hemorrhaging in the brain, after just seconds of direct control. "Let James go!" One of the other rooms must house the artifact, at this point she wasn't sure what to do, as far as she was aware, only destroying or shielding the artifacts could cancel Leviathan's control. She was becoming more desperate, "What do you want?"

"You will tell Shepard that we finally understand why. But we will take our place as our ancestors did in this galaxy none the less. We perceive no threat in this galaxy after the destruction of the intelligence and we also see no preservation of life is possible. Machines will be rebuilt. Wars will begin again... We will stop this. We will care for lesser species once more." Ashley could see James' eyes beginning to roll to the back of his head and blood was coming out of both nostrils now. 

"I'll tell Shepard! Just let James go!" She feared if she left the room, to search for the artifact that Leviathan would control her or kill James outright. Right now, she believed diplomacy was the only option. "Let us both walk out of here! I read the report Shepard gave on her talk with you, you see her as a threat! What do you think she'd do if you killed such a close friend." 

The voice was quiet, James sat motionless with his head still in the upright position and Ashley could only see the whites of his eyes. "We do not agree with the intelligence. Shepard is not a threat any longer, with the intelligence destroyed, the relays are gone, worlds can be enthralled one by one: system by system. We house the memory of the intelligence." The voice stopped and James' head went limp, falling to his chest. Ashley rushed to him, carefully lifting his head upwards. 

"James!" She patted his cheek. "James, wake up!" Harder. "James!" Ashley moved her right hand to check his pulse on his neck.


	24. Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus/Javik/Dr. Chakwas

"Tonight?" Garrus could hear Javik over his omnitool as he laid chest down on a bed in the medbay. Dr. Chakwas was already hard at work changing the bandages for the night. 

"Yes, I expect you and your squad to head out within the hour, the sun will be setting soon, making this mission even more dangerous." Garrus replied lifting his chin from the pillow. "I've already sent you the location of the settlement on your omnitool. Lt. Vega and LT Commander Williams already left to procure supplies from there about 5 hours ago and we have yet to hear from them or the settlement itself, so expect trouble. Your priority is to get Ashley and Vega back safely, but if you can get the supplies for the Normandy's repairs, do so."

"Understood," Javik paused for a moment, "Commander." This caught Garrus off guard, it did nothing but remind him how wrong these moments in the Normandy felt. Silence filled the medbay for the next few minutes before Dr. Chakwas finally decided it was awkward enough.

"You're fortunate you know," Dr. Chakwas announced as she removed the last of the old bandages, "Turian physiology allows you to be up and moving with such an injury, but still." A sharp pain shot through Garrus's side when she sterilized the wound, causing him to wince. "You need to take it easy, just because you can travel all around this ship, doesn't mean you should spend your day doing so." She finally began placing the clean bandages on. 

"Doctor, medically speaking, you worked closely with Shepard's implants when cerberus brought her back. Do you think she could of survived the energy released at the crucible?" Garrus was surprised as the words just rolled from his mouth. He wasn't even sure why he was asking, especially at a time like this. He had convinced himself he didn't need to ask anyone's opinion on Shepards' status, he didn't care to know them. He believed she was alive and he told himself that was good enough.

He felt her hands stop as he asked the question, it took a couple moments after he finished asking before he could feel the bandages being placed again. One strip. Silence. Another strip. Silence. Finally he heard a faint sigh from the doctor's mouth. "Medically speaking, she shouldn't be alive to begin with Garrus. That being said though," She paused again as she finished laying the last of the fresh bandages. "I believe she is alive."

Garrus couldn't stop himself from asking, "Is that your medical opinion, as a doctor?" He began to sit up once he heard her chair roll back around the bed. 

"No, but it is the only one of my opinions that you should listen to." The doctor handed him a couple pills, eyeing the water already set out next to the bed. Garrus took the pills, chasing them with the water before standing up again with his cane. 

"Thank you again doctor." Garrus nodded at her before heading out of the medbay again. He wished to see them off at least. 

"Garrus." He turned back around to the doctor as he stood in the doorway, "Do you have a plan for if no one returns?"

"I've always got a plan doctor." Garrus flared his mandibles outward into a smile. Dr. Chakwas only smiled in return, before cleaning the remains of the old bandages. 

Garrus made his way to the armory in the cargo hold of the ship. His leg and side still throbbed, it would take some time for the pain medicine to take effect but he assumed Javik would likely already down in the armory with Liara and Tali.


	25. Exhaustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adams/Dr. Chakwas

"Karin?" Greg Adams made his way into the med-bay looking around with two cups of coffee in hand. 

Dr. Chakwas turned around the greet the man with a warm smile, eyeing the second cup of coffee. "Here I thought Shepard was the only life saver this ship had." Greg escorted the coffee to her table , setting it down beside the keyboard interface. 

"Figured you wouldn't be sleeping much tonight either." It was a little after 10pm. It had taken Javik and his team longer to get prepared than Garrus had hoped and they left about 2 hours ago. Greg glanced down at his omnitool's clock as he sat on a bed near her.

"You could roll another chair in you know." Karin swiveled towards him, sipping her coffee. 

"This works for me, fluffier an the crew beds. I can see why you sleep in here most nights." Greg looked around while nursing his black coffee as well.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Karin leaned back relaxing in her chair.

"Months ago, we shared stories and concerns and I confided in you about my guilt over not joining Shepard when she worked for Cerberus." He looked up from staring into his cup being held on his lap. "I'm here to offer my ear."

Karin's brows drew together, "I'm not sure what you mean. I'm fine."

"See, I was afraid you weren't going to make this easy and just come out with it." Greg breathed a bit deeper, "Since the crash you spend almost every waking hour in this med-bay." Karen went to protest the statement but Greg just held up a hand, "Let me finish. I know you Karin. I've spent years in your company and months now working side by side with you day in and day out. You are not fine, you are worried beyond all measure and if EDI was here she'd confirm that with something about your heart rate or pheromone emissions or something that would prove me right. So lets just skip all that." Greg sat his coffee down on the stand beside the bed and walked over to her. "Karin." He knelt down to be eye level with the sitting woman. "Let me help you, please."

"But she's not here," He could see tears welling up in her eyes. "Is she?" He stood again, reaching out and pulling her into him. He could hear the small sobs as she stood wrapping her arms around him, burrying her head in his shoulder. "So many times, I thought we'd die. So many times we've lived and preserved. But for what? The fighting never stops. I'm not even out on the front lines, but with every stitch I sew and every wound I clean, I see life still draining from those around me." She took a breath before placing more weight on Gregs' body, letting him hold her. They stayed like that for a few seconds, "I was wrong back then." She pulled back against him, looking at him with tears in her eyes. "When we were debating if synthetic life was real life. I was wrong. They were alive, EDI was alive. I know that now, and I will never be able to tell her those words. I was so cruel." 

He'd known for months now that he cared deeply for the doctor. He realized it during the reaper war, she had helped him out of a vicious cycle of guilt, making him realize his past actions couldn't define who he is today or who he will become in the future. "That's the thing about life, it doesn't need to be told it's alive to know it is and EDI knew." He smiled, wiping a tear away from her face with his thumb. "We'll be back on Earth before you know it Karin." He stared at her, desperate to make her think of something else, "Are you still planning on enlisting again?"

Karin smilled back through the tears, "Perhaps. I've lived for service to the alliance. No biological family or relatives to speak of. I had planned to live out my days aboard some alliance vessel." Karin wiped the remaining tears away herself, before moving over to the bed in the med-bay to sit down. Greg followed her, sitting beside her. "To be honest, I'm not sure I want that anymore. Everyone gave up so much for their friends and family to have happy endings, yet I not only feel like the people who deserve the happiest endings aren't going to get them but I also feel like if I don't enjoy what life I've been given, I would insulting those who gave up their own to ensure people like me got the opportunity." She laid her head on his shoulder. 

At first the action surprised Greg, he froze for a split second, feeling butterflies well up in the pit of his stomach. He then smiled, letting out a small chuckle. "How long?"

He could feel the cheeky smile come across her face against his shoulder. "I'm an old woman Greg, you can't fool me. I've seen the way you look at me for awhile now." She felt his arm wrap around her and the pressure of his head leaning against hers.

"That's the beauty of us old people Karin, we understand each other." Greg replied letting them both enjoy this moment.


	26. In Over Your Heads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley

Nothing... no movement, no ... nothing. "James!" She took her fingers off his neck and shook him. His head bobbed around lifelessly. She could feel her heart accelerating, her breaths getting shorter and quicker. "Not like this!" She quickly cut the man's bonds with her omniblade and laid him down flat on the floor with her ear hovering over his nose. Nothing. She began CPR. One pump... Another... Mouth to mouth... Nothing. She looked at him, motionless laying on the concrete floor, the blood that had been pooling from his nose had stopped and began to dry. Ashley could feel her throat constricting as tears began to well in her eyes. 

In the distance the sound of gunfire brought Ashley's senses back, she needed to get out of here and back to the Normandy. She stared at James, lifeless on the concrete floor. "I'm so sorry." Ashley whispered as she ripped the dog tags from his neck and darted out of the room. She could see the main room at the end of the hall but she needed to destroy the artifact before she left. Fear showered her thoughts, she knew she was already exposed to the artifact itself and that she could be theoretically controlled/killed at any moment, yet she opened each of the doors she ran by, looking in them briefly... searching. When she finally reached the last door to the hallway she swung it open. 'Bingo'. Atop a pedestal sat one of the ancient artifacts Shepard had depicted in her report, drawings and offerings of worship litter the walls and a fresh corpse lay strung out in front of the orb. Ashley froze, she didn't recognize the man on the floor, but the blood pooling rapidly around him told her it had just happened. She didn't have time to question why or how, she slowly brought up her rifle to take aim at the artifact. The rifle though didn't make it above her chest before Ashley fell to her knees dropping her weapon and grasping her head tight. The pain was sharp and jagged, she could feel it drilling its way into her skull.

"You fight. But you are weak." With each word that she heard the pain amplified causing her to scream at the top of her lungs. "Your mind is breaking." She couldn't help herself, the pain continued to move through her mind, "You will return to your ship and tell Shepard we understand now, but we will take our rightful place in this galaxy none the less." The pain stopped as suddenly as it had started, collapsing her body limp on the floor. 

She remained conscious, just barely. Her vision was blurred as she lifted her head looking at the artifact. In another situation, she would of considered this orb to be beautiful. The blue shades of unknown energy swirled and danced around inside of it, like oil or smoke moving in color. Her head felt dull though, just a steady hum of residual pain, but it was her vision that she needed right now. She carefully felt down by her leg, her pistol was still there. Without another thought on the subject, she pulled and shot the orb as fast as she could. Fragments of shattered material scattered across the makeshift alter and she could no longer see the swirl of the colors. 'Please be the only one' Ashley thought as she rested her head back down onto the floor, focusing on breathing while shutting her eyes.


	27. To Know Thy Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Javik/Liara/Tali/Ashley

"Unconscious" Javik knelt over checking the pulse on the body in front of him. The man was filthy and unshaven, but what concerned Javik more was what he felt when he took a "read" on the poorly dressed scientist. Darkness. Completely void. He had never felt such a thing in a living creature, his mind was consumed with nothing but darkness, no thoughts, no memories, no nothing. Javik's own mind felt pressured and suffocated. He pulled his hand away.

"Prothean read?" Liara answered keeping watch for movement down the hallway leading out of the basement room. They had followed Lt. Commander Williams' tracking signal from her omnitool since entering the so called settlement. 

"Amazing." Tali announced as she looked over the monitors lining the back wall of the room. Each one was streaming news from a different home system. "How is this possible without the mass effect relays?" She stared at the Quarian fleet news network cast.

"Something we can discuss further once we complete our primary mission." Javik stood again. "This man has no memory of any recent or past events."

"What's that suppose to mean? I thought your ability was able to transfer ideas, concepts or memories even on unwilling participants?" Liara asked turning to face him.

"You are correct, asari, but this wasn't a lack of ability. It felt like nothing but darkness, a crushing suffocating darkness." Javik eyed the still unconscious man  
.  
"Darkness?" Tali began following the wires leading to the various electronic devices strewn out across the room. "I've heard that description before while on a mission with Shepard when we were hunting the Leviathan." She knelt down popping the side casing off of one of the massive computers. The inside was a complex string of wires and tinted tubing. "It's how the people under leviathan's control described the experience. The ones who remembered it anyway." Tali began digging into the guts of the computer. 

"What? I read that report." Liara brought her pistol back to the ready "If that's the case, one of the artifacts should be around here."

"I would assume this Leviathan creature would of enthralled us already if it had the means to do so. Ashley should be in one of the rooms ahead on the left," He looked down to his omnitool, "this primitive tracker isn't able to pinpoint the exact location." 

Liara headed into the first door on the left with her pistol at the ready. Laying motionless on the floor in the middle of the room was a familiar human body with a pistol setting in her right hand. The room itself was littered with bits of shattered glass and the walls were painted with depictions of what looked to Liara like a reaper. In the back of the room the remnants of a large blue solid sphere sat atop a make shift alter. "Ashley!" Liara lowered her pistol and raced over to the woman. She gently moved her onto her back, removing her pistol from her hand. She quickly checked her pulse, 'beating, thank the godess.' Liara shook the woman gently. "C'mon Ash." She shook a little harder, "Don't make me carry your ass out of here Ash, get up." Ashley's face winced, drawing her brows together.

"My head." Ashley muttered as she brought her hand up to her skull, clenching the hair near her left temple. Liara grabbed some med-igel from its case and applied it to forehead.

"Won't cure it but at least it may ease the pain. Shepard's report says the headache should only last a couple hours." Liara let Ashley sit up on her own, "What happened?" 

Ashley's face quickly came alive throwing her eyes open, "James!" She stood up quickly only to tumble on her own legs, falling back down. 

Liara braced Ashley on her fall. "Easy, what about James." 

"He's..." Ashley looked into Liara's eyes, "He's gone Liara. Leviathan... it... it killed him"

"What! How? Shepard's reports didn't show anything supporting it could kill in such a way, it even had to use Dr. Bryson's lab assistant to kill Ann's father." Liara settled Ashley back down onto the ground.

"I dont know!" Ashley snapped back, "What I do know is I'm only alive because I'm to send a message to Shepard and since Leviathan only needed one person alive to do that, he made sure to prove our species can truly die in a single thought." She looked downward, ashamed.

"I'm sorry, he was a friend of mine also Ash, even if we didn't always see eye to eye, I would never want his death." Liara began to stand up.

"Save it. He's in the room at the end of the hallway. If you all aren't infected I'm assuming that artifact I shot was the only one around." Ashley crouched forward holding her head in her hands. The room remained silent for a few minutes before Liara finally left. The door at the end of the hallway was already open, Javik had obviously already checked that room and was likely still in there. Liara headed to join him.

Javik had already checked each other room briefly while Liara tended to Ashley and he had already "read" James's corpse by the time Liara arrived. She found the prothean crouched over the marine's body.

"Ashley's going to be okay, psychically anyway, it would seem." Liara walked over to the body as well, "Get anything from your read?"

"Yes. Your Leviathan theory seems supported. Darkness was again the only thing left in this room to observe." Javik looked upwards to Liara, "Just refer it as a form of psychometry, sounds better than 'reading'." 

Liara raised an eyebrow, "Not shorter though." Liara crouched down next to Vega's head staring at the dried blood pool under his nose, "Ashley already destroyed the Leviathan artifact and she believes it was the only one here." She looked over to Javik, who was still crouched examining the body, "We should head back to the Normandy, our hour of radio silence time is about up and Garrus will want an update."

"I agree, there isn't much more to be seen here. Leviathan is a creature beyond our current scope of understanding, especially since I'm at a loss for sensing any of its... intentions." Javik stood heading out of the room.

"Javik, we can't just leave James here." Liara looked up to the prothean in surprise.

"We can and we will. Death happens, we saw thousands of it happen in the last few months and this enemy is equally as powerful. Especially with their telekinetic abilities that we don't understand. " Javik turned back to Liara, feeling her eyes drilling holes into the back of his head sighing ever so slightly, "He was a good soldier, take pride in that. We're leaving, without the extra weight of a dead body." 

Liara knew the Normandy couldn't support a dead body on its minimal power source, it would decompose and have a chance to spread disease through his necrotic tissue. These facts though, didn't make it any easier to leave a team member behind. Liara just nodded before heading out the door as well.

Ashley was waiting for them at the end of the hallway, leaning against the wall staring upward. She kept pressure on the back of her head against the wall, in an attempt to relieve the migraine. 

"Fit for duty human?" Javik asked as he passed her. 

"We'll head back to the Normandy once Tali has finished scrapping the functioning electronics here for parts." Ashley closed her eyes trying to ease the pain another way.

"I would assume you can't communicate with any of these worlds that we're picking up their broadcasts from?" Liara asked

"No, Liara, I'm completely incompetent. Tali said whatever system this is running off of is similar to reaper technology, but it was recreated after the crucible was fired." Ashley replied. "Something about mini mass effect fields that are designed to stabilize communication networks."

"Its only been a few days, how did they recreate something we don't even understand fully in that matter of time." Liara walked into the main room to watch Tali.

"Apparently, when you know the technology as well as Leviathan does, recreating the hardware isn't difficult." Ashley followed Liara and Javik into the room as well. "Especially when you can mind control other species."


	28. It's Only A Dream Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley/James

Ashley could feel her cheeks getting warner as she stared across the table at the young man. He raised his wine glass awkwardly smiling at her, the same awkward smile he'd given her numerous times before.

"Pretty sure were celebrating your achievements tonight, shouldn't I be the one toasting?" Ashley couldn't help but give him a wide grin as she raised her glass to meet his. The restaurant itself was beautiful but the name was just out of reach, it sat alone on the tip of her tongue, it didn't matter though, she knew it was an important place and had taken months of planning to get a table reservation. But, she had perfectly planned out the date, it was the day she would turn in her resignation as a spectre and celebrate the start of her new life with the recent N7 graduate across the table.

The glasses chimed together, echoing though the restaurant. She looked around at the empty restaurant, she hadn't remembered reserving the whole place, but she couldn't picture the other patrons. They were faceless nobodies, this was  _their_ night. She turned her head back to the man in front of her dropping her glass. She couldn't hear the shatter, she no longer could hear anything but her own screams resonating around her. James's eyes were nothing but white and blood pooled under his nose. The room itself began to crawl with shadows surrounding her table, clawing at her, reaching for her. She shook her head as the darkness crept closer, hearing her own screams echoing through her mind, but couldn't physically move enough to even open her mouth. The darkness continued to come closer, enveloping James and everything around her until nothing but blackness was left. She was gone. She had nothing more...

Ashley's eyes shot open, her heart banged hard and loud in her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. A dream, no, a nightmare. Slowly, she remembered where she was as she looked around the dimly lit room recognizing the desk on the fall wall that was littered with datapads and monitors. She was in the med bay on the Normandy and proceeded to lay back down while wiping away the couple tears that trailed her cheek line. She remembered asking Dr. Chakwas to allow her to sleep here for the night; it was secluded and quiet and Karin seemed happy enough to sleep elsewhere for the time being when they had returned around 2am.

"Calm down Ash," she told herself, "just a nightmare. Just a tragic heart wrenching nightmare." She could feel her heart rate returning to normal and she closed her eyes again. She needed sleep, she had to sleep, if not for herself than for her crew. She needed to be functional... at least until they arrived back to earth. The medbay was silent aside from the faint hum of the life support system, and soon enough Ashley found comfort in that humming whisper, allowing her to sleep once again.


	29. Homeward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Sorry for the couple days off, Andromeda came out and well I'm sure you all can understand what that meant for us dedicated fans!***
> 
> Tali

Tali's eyes hadn't felt this heavy in along time. She took a deep breath staring at the network of wires in front of her. When Javik's team finally returned to the Normandy, it was already near 2am and having already pulled an "all-nighter" the night before this was really taking a tole physically.

"Keelah," Tali sighed as she motioned for her droid to move over to the other side of the core. She'd already assigned Donnelly and Daniels to overclock the back up systems to restart the mass effect fields, it will take some time to alter the drive core enough that it wont explode during this process. "Whatever it was you had to attend to Adams, better have been important..." As the night went on her resentment towards his urgent disappearance was annoying her more and more. It wasn't has if he'd of been a lot of help, but even someone to just keep her awake would of been better than this. But alas, engineer Adams was no where to be found as of the last couple hours, claiming he had some very important business, that was long over due, to attend to. 

Hours passed, as she continued to work on the machinery, at one point she started crossing already connected wires, repeating her steps. If it wasn't for her forward thinking on programming her assistant droid to double check for errors, she may of wasted at least an hours worth of work. 

"Tali." Donnelly's voice came through her omnitool causing her startle and jump upwards; hitting her head on one of the metal shafts that held the drive core in place. 

"Oww!" Tali put her hand to the top of her head, pressing to relieve some of the pain, before opening her com channel. "What!"

Silence for a moment. "Uh, you okay Tali?" This time it was Daniel's voice.

Tali knew she was exhausted, and it wasn't their fault, but she was well beyond pleasantries. She looked upwards to the metal piece she'd hit and smacked it with the bottom side of her fist in frustration. "Yes, I'm fine. What do you two need?" She could hear broken up sounds coming through her omnitool, it seemed like they were trying to figure out who was going to ask the question. Tali took a deep breath, shutting her eyes, picturing Rannoch's landscape. Recently she'd pictured it more and more, using it as a place to provide mental comfort, it was what she had fought so hard for and that moment with Shepard grounded her there. She wanted nothing more than to return. 

Finally Daniel's voice came through clearly, "The back up core is overclocked and ready to jump start the primary drive core. Mass effect fields are stabilizing with supplies we recovered from the ... facility. We're ready to jump start the drive core when you are..."

Tali sat back down fully, leaning against the core. "Repairs are almost done on my end." She pointed upwards for the droid, who had returned finished with his section of welding and soldering, instructing the final connections to the core. "Update Ash on our status, we should be able to fly within the hour and hopefully Traynor has enough of our communications up and running with those galactic receivers we stole that she can plot a way out of here." She closed the connection and shut her eye, again picturing Rannoch one more time.


	30. On Our Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker/Traynor/Ashley

Joker stared at the seat in front of him. The entire cockpit was lit up and functional again, it looked so... familiar. He knew this is where he belonged, but the sickening feeling that slowly crept into his stomach told him it would never be the same again. He hobbled closer to the center console setting a hand affectionately on dash, "Looks like it's just you and me again old girl." He looked over to the copilots empty chair, forcing himself into a mocking smile, "Not like you're missing much EDI, just out running some monsters that look like they belong in a bad Japanese porno." He paused, looking around realizing what he was doing, "Oh, good," he then said to himself, "because if you weren't the weird guy falling in love with a robot, now you're the robot loving crazy guy who talks to himself." He sat himself down into the chair glaring at it. "Still miss my leather seat..." He began his normal routine of system pre-flight checks. Joker knew humor, especially internal humor was only going to get him so far, but, he had spent long enough feeling sorry for himself. 

Joker flipped on the Normandy's communications: "Commander Williams, flight check is go and the navigation system is up to date thanks to miss Traynor. Just waiting on your orders." 

"You've got the green light down here in engineering, Tali is resting up but the rest of us have her under control for our first FTL jump." Engineer Adams responded first, sounding especially chipper this morning.

"On you then Joker, take us home." Ashley finally chimed in from the CIC, looking over the plotted course. Off of ship wide communications she turned to Traynor, who was triple checking her navigation points through the system. "Traynor, why does this say we're falling out of FTL every few hours?" 

"Without EDI, we're unable to accurately navigate during FTL flight, so our long range scanners can only predict and see so far before we have to pull out of FTL to get another accurate scan." Traynor flipped through the images of their current scans, "you know, so we don't get taken out by an asteroid field after coming this far, ma'am." 

Ashley appreciated the formalities, she needed to feel in charge of this ship for the time being. She knew no one was talking about Jame's death on purpose, but she also had a feeling that behind closed doors, everyone was talking about it. This did nothing but put her further on edge, between the trauma of the Leviathan experience and losing a soldier under her command she felt out of control of anything. Standing here in the CIC, she couldn't believe she ever questioned Shepard's choices. She felt so small, so naive, and so much like a failure that she almost didn't want to return to Earth. 'I wonder if Shepard ever felt this way? Especially after the Batarian colony incident.' She thought to herself staring at their destination. It would take close to 2 days to reach the Sol System without EDI and from there, they had no way to travel between clusters without the relays. 

"Commander." Traynor touched Ashley's hand as it rested on railing around the galaxy map. "You should try and get some sleep, if something happens we'll wake you up."

Ashley snapped out of her thoughts and turned to the specialist smiling, "Thank you Traynor, but for now I'd like to stay here, I'll probably make the rounds here shortly to see what everyone is up to. I'm sure we're all excited to finally be going home." She paused for a moment as Traynor removed her hand. "Speaking of, what are your plans once we get back to Earth?"

"Mine?" Traynor looked upwards and smiled, "I have always wanted a family." She looked back to Ashley, "You know, the old American dream of having a white picket fence, a golden retriever and a spouse with two kids."

"Normality huh?" Ashley laughed, "You sure picked an odd post for the perfect normal dream."

Traynor laughed a bit, "Yeah, I remember telling myself I had to try and do this, I knew the Normandy would do something great. At the time I didn't know it was defeating the Reapers when I was helping with the retro-fits but I knew it would go to something or someone important. So, I forced myself to stay on, and thanks to EDI I got the chance to meet Shepard herself... Did you know, I was terrified of Shepard when I first arrived here. Absolutely terrified and she convinced me I was important and worthy of my position. She gave me confidence when I had barely convinced myself to stay on the Normandy. If she would of told me day one that she didn't need me, I would of ran." She chuckled to herself, "Hell I would of ran without my tooth brush I was scared." 

Ashley gave a caring smile and softened her voice, "She had that affect on people. She inspired them to do what they didn't think they could. She convinced me that even after all my doubts and mistakes, that I wasn't wrong to hold my own beliefs. That my past or my family doesn't define who I am going forward." She looked over to the map again, "I hope she's still there. I have so much I need to thank her for."

"Has, commander. Has that affect on people." Traynor replied.


	31. No Rest

"You're really asking that?" Liara looked over to Cortez in the dining area as she grabbed a ration from food stores. 

"We've spent our last few months fighting, fearing for our lives and trying to beat a race of sentient robots who haven't been bested for hundreds of thousands of years. I'm sick of talking about the stress and hard times. What was the most fun you've all had serving under Shepard?" Cortez leaned back in his chair nursing his tea. 

"I get it." Garrus leaned forwards, having finished his breakfast some time ago, he decided to stay and be in the company of his shipmates, but his first thoughts on what brought him obvious amounts of joy weren't something he cared to share, so he moved to something a bit more reasonable. "Honestly, back on the citadel. Shepard and I had an accuracy contest with a sniper rifle, blanks of course, and I don't mean to brag but it is now my favorite place on the citadel."

"Pity no one can confirm that." Tali said as she rounded the corner to the eating area.

"You're awake already? Didn't you just go to sleep a few hours ago?" Liara headed for her seat next to Javik who was still trying to figure out if another day on these rations was worth the torture.

"You're all not exactly quiet." Tali sat next to Garrus, "Besides, these last couple days may be the last we serve together on the Normandy and I wouldn't want to miss all the exaggerated stories we can talk about." She looked over to Garrus giving him an overly cheeky smile.

"Doubtful." Javik said as he leaned back in his chair, deciding the food in front of him could wait. "With the Leviathan threat..."

"Nope. You can just stop right there, this is a Leviathan free zone. For 10 minutes we can have positive conversation that has nothing to do with all the sickening amount of death or further impending doom this galaxy has to offer." Cortez was quick to cut Javik short. 

"Mr. Cortez is right." Liara replied, "Our happiest and best moments are what we should be celebrating right now. Not looking towards our next fight." She paused for a moment, "Becoming the shadow broker."

"Really?" Garrus asked staring at the asari with a puzzled expression.

Liara couldn't help herself in her attempt to hold back a grin. 

"I'm not sure I got to hear much on this, do tell." Cortez said before taking another sip.

"That's because that wasn't a fun time at all and I'm a little disturbed that was the most fun moment you've had over all these years." Garrus shook his head maintaining the puzzled looked towards Liara. "You do realize that hurt, a lot, right." 

Liara laughed, "I'm sorry Garrus, but looking back on it, it was a rare moment where not only did I obtain the ultimate knowledge and information network in this galaxy, but I'd never seen a turian get hit in the face with a desk. Don't get me wrong, if you'd of died it would of been far less amusing, but you stood up without even a scratch."

"You do realize I was unconscious from that, there was a reason I don't remember any of the actual fight with the ex-shadow broker." Garrus at this point, was concerned further about his asari friend's mental stability in what she found to be 'fun'. "This is honestly an answer I'd expect from someone like Jack, not you Liara."

Liara laughed, "Like I said, if you'd of been actually hurt, the memory would of been much different. But this was one of the few times I'd gotten to fight solo along side Shepard. It was glorious watching her punch that yahg in the face." She smirked towards Garrus, "you should of been there."

Garrus finally laughed a bit. The memory to him wasn't nearly as amusing, but seeing Liara be able to laugh and join in with everyone reminded him that moments like these are what he will miss after all this over. 

Javik stood, pushing his chair out further. "You all are blind to this cycle's new threat and to waste precious time that could be used in planning our next move is pointless." He walked out of the room, heading to his quarters, leaving his rations untouched.

Tali looked over to Liara shaking her head, "I can't see it." 

"See what?" Cortez asked.

"Nothing." Liara responded, the tone in the room felt much darker now. Javik wasn't wrong, but at the same time none of them had a desire to continue fighting this or any war. They all felt they needed and deserved their promised so called retirement, but they also knew no one else was better equip to counter this new galactic threat. 

"No rest for the wicked..." Cortez muttered, bringing his now empty cup to the kitchen area. 

"Remind me, did Shepard's report detail the physical damage that she suffered after meeting Leviathan on Despoina 2181?" Liara asked after a brief silence.

"I don't think so, Dr. Chakwas probably would probably still have that information, assuming the crucible didn't damage her systems." Tali responded, looking towards the asari.

Liara stood up, but seeing the med bay empty for the moment, she headed to her quarters.

"You have an idea?" Garrus asked as he watched her leave.

"Maybe." It was all she said before disappearing into her room.


	32. Growing Up

The ICU was quiet. All of the reception staff and much of the nursing staff had gone home for the day, only the over night shift employees were still wandering the halls. Miranda sat nodding in and out of consciousness in Shepard's quiet room. She had finished the 29 hour surgery a couple hours ago and decided to spend her night watching over Shepard as a friend, instead of a doctor, but her lack of sleep was starting to show as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She leaned back in the lounge chair finally shutting her eyes.

"You make a shitty cheerleader." Miranda jolted forwards looking towards the door of the ICU room. She recognized the woman standing in the doorway pretty much instantly as she relaxed back into the chair, straighten her posture. 

"Pretty sure they don't conduct STD testing in the ICU." Miranda replied looking at the woman. 

Jack stepped into the room, sliding the glass door behind her shut. "Hil-fucking-larious." Jack looked back over her shoulder and closed the curtains to the room as well. The walls of rooms in the ICU wing were made of glass to allow higher visibility from hospital staff, so for any privacy curtains were necessary. 

Miranda frowned, she sensed something was off and leaned forwards looking at Jack. "How did you even get up here? The ICU is closed off and guards were posted at each entrance..." 

Jack's face suddenly turned to a shocked expression, "Jesus Christ don't tell me those were our guys?!" Jack put her hand to her mouth and widened her eyes just a bit more to dramatically play up the act before returning to her normal posture and taking a seat in the lounge chair next to Miranda. "The guards are fine, I lucked out and one of the them was an uncle to one of my students. Apparently I'm such a mother fucking badass now that I have pull with alliance officials."

Miranda looked down to Jack's chest, noticing she was wearing pretty much normal civilian clothes. "Seems like the fibers of your clothing are multiplying."

"Cut the shit, how did the surgery go for Shepard?" Jack looked over to the comatose commander laying on the medical bed in front of them.

"Well. It went well. She's in a medically induced coma for the time being until the neural pathways in her brain calm down. Right now, the pain sensors are too high to bring her out." Miranda looked over to the commander as well.

"29 hours huh?" Jack leaned forwards and grabbed the medical chart from the end of the bed. 

"Shocking, you can read." Miranda leaned back into her seat again. "If any of the nurses see you, you're going to be escorted out."

"Hence the curtain." Jack swiped through the report, she had plenty of practice reading similar reports on herself and other members of the Cerberus experiments on Pragia. "I'm heading out in a few hours." She set the data pad back on the dock at the end of the bed. "Most of my students were sent back to their families, but the ones who didn't have any family to return to are being stationed on an alliance orbital facility on Mars for the time being with other Grissom academy students."

"Fear of biotics." Miranda understood the alliance's concern. Many of those students were sent to Grissom academy because of their inability to properly control their biotics, not only because of their natural gift for it. Now that the war is over, the reasons that landed those students there in the first place are relevant again and the Alliance had plenty of orphans, homeless, widowed, and wounded soldiers to deal with as it was. 

"Tell her I stopped by yeah?" Jack about whispered the sentence out.

Miranda raised an eyebrow to the woman, but decided to let this slide. "Yeah." Was all she needed to say. Jack stood up and headed headed out of the room. Miranda watched her go and shook her head once she was gone, smirking at her own thoughts. 'Leave it to Shepard to be able to change such a nut job.' She glanced at the clock on the wall as she set her head back onto the head rest, 2am.


	33. Evolutionary Life

"Javik." Liara knocked on the door to Javik's living quarters before letting herself inside. Over the few months they had been shipmates, she'd learned that if she wasn't forceful with the prothean, that he would completely ignore any type of interaction. The room was dark, Javik had kept the lights in this room dimmer, explaining that protheans suffered from light sensitivity at times and the four optic nerves could become irritated and overstimulated if left in bright light for an extended amount of time. Liara looked around the room, seeing Javik in the far corner staring into the various pools of water that had been brought to the room itself. Over the months he had requested various conditions for his quarters, the water helped to not only keep a higher level of humidity but it also allowed him to constantly keep his hands clean, which aided in keeping his psychometry in check. "Javik." Liara said again walking towards him, data pad in hand.

"Out with it asari." Javik continued to stare into his own reflection, giving her nothing but his back. 

Liara brought the data pad she had been holding up, flipping through different notes. "I've been digging through Dr. Bryson's notes on the Leviathan and found that she theorized the creatures not only to be highly intelligent but they were able to telepathically communicate ideas, speech, and emotion instantly through a mental connection with any other lesser organic species. Bryson goes further into organic quantum entanglement theory as to how they are able to establish mental bridges at such great lengths. Pairing this with the history that Shepard learned on Despoinia, these mental links may explain how protheans were able to share information through psychometry. It's pretty much a highly watered down version of the telepathy that Leviathans used and the asari's ability is an even further watered down de-evolution of the origional." Liara looked to Javik, who still had his back to her. "Can you tell me anything of the Inusannon. Did they posses this decaying ability as well or something similar to it?"

"I don't know." Javik replied, turning to face her. "I have already told you everything I know about my own civilization. I was a soldier, not a scholar and being born so late in the war caused me to know even less about who my own people were." 

"Unfortunate, but not nessisary I suppose. I have no record or data on a Leviathan creating this mental bridge with any asari, and certainly not any prothean. I'm wondering to what extent they can enthrall the races that have pre-existing telepathy, or if they can at all. From what Shepard's report says about the history that Leviathan told her, they spent their time enthralling lesser races, the primitive paintings show this, but I wonder if that was always the case. Shepard said that the creature called itself the apex predator of its time instead of an apex ruler of its time. I wonder if the enthrallment didn't pertain to all species existing in the galaxy," Liara began pacing around the room lost in thought, "thus causing the Leviathans to hunt down those they couldn't enthrall. It's rare that evolution would allow one creature to be an apex within an entire galaxy biologically, there are always counters to evolutionary traits. Creation may not always be kind but it is fair in the long run." She stopped looking to Javik.

"You're hoping we have some kind of immunity? I can say I had never heard of this creature in my cycle, even through the memory shards. But that's not a definitive answer, there was much of my cycle I wasn't aware of." Javik glanced at the memory shard before looking back to the asari. 

Liara looked around the room, still pretty much as empty as the first day he moved into this quarter. "Javik, why don't you join me in my quarters, at least we can sit down and discuss this to greater length in a bit more .... comfort." Liara headed out of the room, not completely sure if Javik was actually going to follow. 

Javik frowned watching the asari walk away. He found the asari as a species to be perplexing, not only were they the chosen by the prothean race as the next primitive species to be uplifted, but their ability to meld their physical appearance to match similar identity markers in other species visual cortex was remarkable. They were truly an evolutionary marvel when focusing on reproductive biology and little did Liara know, he had spent a decent amount of his so called free time since waking up in this cycle reading about the asari. He shook his head before following her out of the room. He honestly doubted he would be any use to her scholastically, but she may be onto something and he rather enjoyed the thought of getting to live for something other than vengeance for the first time in his life.


	34. Smiles Hide Fear

The power in the drive core stuttered as the Normandy fell out of FTL for what felt like the umpteenth time. 

"Uh, engineering?" Joker's voice came through to the engineering bay loud and clear. Adams was the first to respond, instructing Tali's service droid over to the drive core. 

"Look, the ship wasn't made for such short FTL bursts over and over again. Imagine starting your skycar and turning it off right as the engine kicked over and then starting her up again." Adams stared at small smoke patches coming off of various wires surrounding the core itself. "We're going to need to make some repairs while the scanners do their thing." 

"Understood." Joker responded, letting the ship idle in their current position. "On the plus side, Traynor says just a few more jumps before we reach the Sol system."

Adams didn't bother responding, just rolled his eyes as he waited for the drive core to cool down enough to get close. He issued his commands to the droid to begin repairs on the more critical parts right away. He could hear the venting systems functioning as Donnelly opened each compartment systematically around the core. "You two can take a break after the venting and regulators are set for idle speeds. These problems aren't big enough for 3 people, someone would just be in the way."

Donnelly was the first to reply, "Aye aye, sir." He turned to Daniels and winked. She responded quickly with a smirk and shaking her head. They had successfully maintained their relationship even after the final push on the reapers back on Earth, Daniels thought that it only even happened because of the risk on their lives, but to her surprise Donnelly maintained his feelings for her. He even stopped commenting on the various other women on ship, at least when around her... for the most part. 

Once they had both finished the last of the cooling protocols for the drive core, they headed down to the bottom levels of the engineering bay for some privacy. 

"Ken." Daniel's followed behind the young man walking down the flight of stairs.

"Yeah?" he kept his casual pace.

"What are your plans? You know, after we get back?" She could feel the butterflies welling up in her stomach. She had avoided confirming his commitment to what they had for as long as she could, she honestly cared deeply for the man in front of her and didn't want to lose what they had just recently discovered between them.

Donnelly stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turning to look up at the woman behind him. His brows were brought together out of confusion, "What do you mean? Don't you mean what are we doing?"

Daniel's face lit up, she couldn't resist the smile that forced its way to the surface and she could feel the tips of her cheeks getting warmer. "I... I was nervous you wouldn't... I mean..." She could see the smile come across his face as he shook his head walking up a couple stairs to her. She felt his hand clasp around her wrist and pull her into him. 

"Where is that confidence? That annoying constant confident aggression that I've come to love about you?" The words practically purred into her ear. For an instant she couldn't believe what she was hearing, it was sweet and heartfelt she let herself relax into his embrace. And that's when she could feel his hand slide south, squeezing her ass. She pushed him back, ripping herself from him. 

"I knew it!" She stared at Donnelly, wide eyed and shaking her head in astonishment. "2 seconds, 2 whole seconds I felt like you were genuine." 

Donnelly laughed as he turned around heading back down the stairs. "I was." He sat down on a crate of supplies. "I really was Gabby." He patted the spot next to him. She forced herself to maintain a glare and tight jaw as she joined him. He leaned forwards resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands in front of him before he turned to her smiling. "So, what are our plans?"

Daniel's couldn't keep up the angry act . She knew what kind of man she'd fallen for and embraced all those quirks, at least for the time being. "Do you want to retire from active service?" 

This time Donnelly's face fell a bit, the smile faded and he looked her in the eyes, sitting upright. "Honestly, if Shepard pushes to do something after this mission about that Leviathan threat, I want to help." He watched her reaction to this carefully. He wasn't sold on sacrificing more to the galaxy's safety, but at the same time he didn't want to live as an enthralled member of this galaxy either. "We're important to the Normandy, but not irreplaceable." 

Gabby broke her eye contact, looking down. "Don't we deserve some rest? Happiness? Peace? We're not war heroes or even soldiers..." He could hear the waver in her voice. He placed an arm around her shoulder pulling her into his side. 

"I'm willing to do what you want to do Gabby. Just remember that." He kissed the top of her head before resting his there. "We still have time to decide." They maintained the relaxed silence for what felt to Daniels as only a couple seconds. "I wonder what Jack did down here, in the dark. All alone... half naked." He could feel Daniel's head shaking once again but he knew, she was smiling and at the end of the day; that's what he cared about the most right now.


	35. We're Home... Almost

The admiral couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten a full nights sleep. If the nights weren't interrupted by "emergency" calls from subordinates or foreign diplomats they were riddled with nightmares of the thousands of men and women he'd sent to their deaths in the past months. This night felt no different, it was 2am and he could hear his phone going off for what he assumed to be the second or third time by now. 

"Hackett." His voice reflected his tired state as he mumbled the words out. He'd answered his phone so often that he didn't even bother opening his eyes when he pressed the button on the receiver. 

"Sir. Sorry to call at such an hour, but we just received a report from the relay repair team near Pluto that a ship claiming to be the SSV Normany is heading into alliance space. Pilot ID for Jeff Monroe was verified upon drop from FTL but your presence was requested by LT. Commander and Citadel Spectre Ashley Williams on arrival." He recognized the voice of the young girl to be private Dani Birches. Since the war shed functioned as nothing more than his glorified secretary, the role actually seemed to suit her just as well. She had enlisted just before the invasion but ended up seeing minimal combat due to lack of completed training, but she came from a long line of business men and women and knew a thing or two about organization. He opened his eyes and sat upright upon hearing all this information.

"Were they instructed to shuttle to Vancouver?" Hackett was already leaving his bed and searching for a clean uniform as the words left his mouth.

"Yes, sir." Dani responded. "They're estimated to arrive within the next couple hours.

The admiral sifted through the various hangers of clothing. "Who else knows of this? Has the primarch or the flotilla been informed yet?"

"Not by any alliance personnel, but it is safe to assume their scans will pick up on the ship entering alliance space near Earth, at the very least." 

"Understood. Send a skycar to come pick me up, I'll head to central command." He paused for a moment. "Is Shepard awake yet?" 

"Dr. Lawson's last update yesterday still showed high pain neural activity. She advised keeping her in the medically induced coma for awhile longer."

He stopped and stared at the phone, one leg in his uniform trousers. "Awhile? What the hell kind of medical report is that?" He wasn't a fan of miss Lawson to begin with, for obvious reasons, but he wasn't going to deny the knowledge the woman possessed; especially in regards to the commander's recovery. He continued dressing.

"Sorry, sir, but her report to us was very vague to begin with." 

He shook his head slightly out of frustration as he finished dressing. "That'll be all miss Birches. I'll see you at central." He could hear the connection click off and he headed for the door. The admiral had been housed at one of the refurbished government facilities in Vancouver, the building itself had once functioned as a courthouse and fortunately hadn't seen direct attack from reaper forces. The normal wear and tear from looters and civilians stationed here during the resistance was relatively simple to fix up when the alliance decided the city would function as central command after the war. 

Hackett opened his omnitool, "Rain again, go figure." He glanced over the forcast and through brief civilian news reports as he waited for the skycar to arrive. He was worried about the formalities at how this was going to go down, after the Normandy's arrival. While the vessel itself was alliance, much of the crew wasn't. One of the members was even an admiral for the quarian fleet. He wanted to debrief each of them under alliance protocol but like with much of Shepards military history, this likely would have to be altered and done off the books. His omnitool lit up, indicating the skycar was here and headed out the door.


	36. Can't Stop Me

Garrus stared at the turian on vidcom, he had come to know him quite well over the past few months and even grown to respect him and his ability to make critical decisions. This made the conversation he was having right now especially difficult, because logically he not only trusted the Primarch of his people and wanted to understand his current orders but not a fiber of his being was willing to go along with it. 

"With all due respect, sir. I was an adviser for the turian military, not an actual enlisted soldier." Garrus continuing to eye the Primarch directly, standing his ground.

"Vakarian, you may not of been an officer, but you held the respect of generals during this war and were a member of the team who made the final push against the reapers on Earth. Don't kid yourself, you're a member of this military, if you like it or not." Adrian Victus's mandibles clenched to his jaw line out of frustration, "We've already dispatched a transport to the Normandy's current location. You are needed aboard the Indomitable for a debriefing before you are permitted to go anywhere." Adrian could tell just by looking at Vakarian that he had no such intention of following that order, he'd seen that same look hundreds of times when he looked in a mirror during his own military service. He was known to play loose with rules and could tell Garrus felt very similarly on the topic. It was likely one of the reasons he felt like he could trust him and why he valued his opinions on the matter, let alone his first hand knowledge in dealing with reaper forces. 

"Sir, answer me this: What is the current status of commander Shepard?" Garrus never broke eye contact and held his posture tightly. Adrian could tell he was doing his absolute best to read every small tell that he could give, he was putting his years in c-sec to use right here and now. He also knew that the minute he answered his question, Garrus would likely head directly for Earth. This was only a problem in regards to his debreifing, often times the more time that passes between an event and retelling of that event, the less likely the information is factual and detailed. Not only that, the turian and human forces, while allies, they still will have their own version of the reaper war events and as the Primarch of his people, it was his duty to ensure accuracy and clarity.

"I will tell you she is alive and in alliance care." Immediately he saw Garrus's face soften, likely any person who was non turian wouldn't of detected the slight relaxation in plate tension, but he saw the relief almost instantly. "But, I will not disclose her location until you have completed your debriefing. Earth is a big planet Vakarian, should you chose to search on your own for this classified information it will likely take you significantly longer than simply cooperating with protocol."

As the words left the Primarch mouth, a small news feed style text scrolled by on his visor, an achievement only someone who had previously had their vitals and omnitool synced with his devise would be able to accomplish. "Welcome back. She's currently in Vancouver, Canada at the alliance central hospital. Guards on doors, good luck... archangel." Garrus's peripheral vision was second to none, he felt confident in the fact that the Primarch likely wouldn't notice his eye movements in reading the text on his visor.

"Understood, sir. When should the transport arrive?" Garrus asked, already planning out his next move.

"Within the hour we'll make this as quick as possible." To this Garrus internally laughed, turian debriefings were anything but "quick". Often taking days at a time to ensure nothing was exaggerated or fabricated for official military records. "Thank you, Vakarian. For everything." Garrus didn't respond, he turned the vidcom off and opened his omnitool. 

"Cortez, you haven't left with William's to Earth yet have you?" A couple seconds pass.

"Not yet, we just got clearance from alliance HQ to head down, LT. Commander wants us to leave in 10."

"Full house?" Garrus began heading to the docking area.

"Nope, just a Joker and a Queen." He could almost see that cheeky smile through the vocal comms.

"A King is joining you all." 

"That was so tasteless , I almost laughed. Hurry up or Williams will notice, before it's too late." Garrus smiled, the Normandy would likely be dry docked within the day, everyone but Adams, Traynor, Donnelly and Daniels were scheduled to leave. "Attempting to hide a turian?" "No, sir. Just keeping the fact unknown until were in space. I doubt she'll airlock you off the Kodiak." Garrus wasn't as sold on that fact, but it didn't matter. He was getting down to Earth. That wasn't optional to him. Tali was in a similar situation as Garrus in the fact her people were requesting her presence aboard their flagship. Tali though, had duties as one of the quarian admirals that required her immediate attention, and the fact of the Leviathan threat loomed over each of them was a problem that they each felt needed to be relayed ASAP. Garrus pulled up the report on the final push in London and his report of what had happend on Zorya. He didn't want to have his people at a disadvantage intel wise, but at the same time, he'd put off searching for her long enough. He sent the report to Victus's personal channel and turned his omnitool off as he entered the elevator to the docking bay.


	37. The Quarian Flotilla

"Welcome back Admiral Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy." Kal'Reegar stood at attention on the side of the airlock aboard the Quarian flagship.

"Kelaah Seelah." Tali responded as she embraced him. This caught the captain off guard as he nervously looked around to some of his subordinates, who pretty awkwardly averted their eyes. "So happy to be home. Thank you." She released him and smiled widely. "The other admirals here I assume? I have an urgent matter to discuss with them." 

Kal couldn't remember the last time he was happy about the fact Quarian suits shadowed their facial expressions as he could feel his cheeks getting warmer. After averting his eyes and clearing his throat, "Yes, admiral Shaala'Raan received your initial report and gathered the other admirals, per your request. They're waiting in the council chambers."

"Good." Tali nodded to a couple other members of the flotilla as she walked down the halls, she was surprised at how many were so visually happy to see her, she knew she would receive a warm welcome, she considered all of the flotilla to be family after all; but the amount of best wishes, thank yous, and hugs were quite a bit more than she'd originally thought. The hallways snaked through the massive flagship, much of the decorations at this point were crates containing various needed supplies during the war on reaper forces, not that there was much personalization in the hallways to begin with. Since taking back Rannoch from the Geth, many of the quarian civilians chose to stay on Rannoch, leaving the flagship far more barren than Tali was used to. 

"You're pretty much a hero to our people now, ma'am. Not only were you part of the team that destroyed the collectors and fought the geth to reclaimed Rannoch, but you also participated in the final push on Earth against the Reapers." Kal whispered to her as they stood outside the council room. "You're father would be so proud of you ma'am." He moved to open the door for her, nodding to her as she walked into the room. She could hear the door slide back down shortly after.

The admirals were already gathered around the oval shaped desk in the council chambers, before the war this room was rarely used, as many problems surrounding the geth were addressed in segmented operations and rarely left decisions to me made as a unanimous whole. Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh was the first to speak up. "The creators of the first reaper... quite the accomplishment. The copy of Commander Shepard's initial report that you forwarded, shows they are indeed a complex biological feat of evolution. This will truly be an interesting encounter." Everyone could hear the excitement in her voice as she leaned forwards, ready to listen to Tali's next words on the topic.

"While we don't all share Admiral Xen's exact interest in these creatures, we are curious to hear from you about the events since the final push on Earth." Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib eyed Xen a bit astonished at how she can move from one creature of mass engineering destruction to the next so easily. 

Tali made her way to a seat next to Admiral Shala'Raan Vas Tonbay and synced her omnitool to the holo projector in the center of the room. "As I'm sure you're all aware at this point, the mass relays have been destroyed thanks to the crucible, along with all traces of reaper code." For dramatic effect the Holo replayed the actions in front of everyone. "This event has caused a substantial backlash in communications galaxy wide, leaving many systems to have to repair their relays before inter galactic travel will once again be possible." All this time Tali was careful to watch everyone's reactions. When she was first appointed Admiral she laughed it off as a token position that arose out of necessity for the current situation, not actual merit. "Our discoveries in an underground instillation on Zorya prove the Leviathans have the knowledge to recreate these information networks with relative ease." This time the holo brought up the internal network used to receive news reports galaxy wide. 

Xen stood from her seat leaning even further in to look at the holo representation. "Much of this looks similar to reaper design, with some exceptions." 

"That was my first interpretation as well." The holo zoomed in on the white tubbing. "As we all know reaper technology is integrated with biological mass as a needed energy source to fuel the complex processing. This substance is different though, it has been mutated hormonally to overclock cellular function in this bio-energy paste."

"Could this be a result of the enthrallment your report spoke of?" Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema had been quiet up to this point.

"Perhaps, to be honest I couldn't tell you. I collected as much information on the system before dismantling it for parts needed to fix the Normandy." Talli replied, facing Han.

"Reckless, could the parts not of been found else where? If we had access to this technology our efforts in repairing our own relay and getting back to Rannoch could be doubled." Xen stared Tali down looking for an answer.

"No, the team had suffered a causality in obtaining the knowledge and resources you see before you. Acting Commander Ashley Williams ordered evacuation from Zorya ASAP, we had no time to search for other options." Tali met Xen's gaze as an equal in this matter. Admiral Raan smiled proudly as she watched the young Admiral defend her convictions in her own stead now instead of behind Commander Shepard. 

"A captain's orders are absolute." Admiral Han interjected, "Aside from your report is there anything more you can tell us about the Leviathans or their plans?"

"No. But this problem isn't one that will be solved by the quarian people alone. Garrus Vakarian likely is relaying the same information to the Turian Primarch, as Ashley Williams is informing the Alliance. From the broadcasts I got to see from various news networks across the galaxy, there is confusion in the future of our galactic alliance since the destruction of the relays and drop is galactic communication." Tali brought up the original schematic for the communication receiving hardware that Leviathan had built. "Using this schematic, we can't exactly replicate what the Leviathans have built, due to the lack of bio-fuel, but we can implement our own primitive energy sources into the repairs of the mass relays using these schematics. The product would require more stabilizing than the original but if we can develop this it will allow for galactic communication once again." 

"That would give our people a huge advantage over the other races." Admiral Han replied first again. "Are you the only one with these schematics?"

"That is not the point here Admiral Han'Gerrel!" Tali was quick to shut down the idea. "We just brokered peace with the Geth, did you learn nothing from that whole ordeal?!"

"Who are now as far as we are aware, dead." Admiral Xen intergected. "With this technological leap at this crucial time, we hold a great deal of power. We would be unwise to not use it to our advantage."

"As you all know, Alliance leader Hackett brought up talks of reforming the council. It was a position that we likely already have earned." This time Admiral Shala'Raan spoke.

"Your hasty actions against the Geth almost cost us our lives Admiral Han'Gerrel." Admiral Zaal'Koris turned to face him. "If not for Commander Shepard, who might I point out, is not Quarian, I would be dead and likely the Geth would still have control of Rannoch. I am not about to spit on that favor given to us by spitting on her people."

"Commander Shepard was one person, not the Alliance as a whole. We would be foolish to just turn this information over. The Quarian people have suffered long enough as the rodents of the galactic council. If Hackett tries to rebuild a new council, this information could not only guarantee us a seat, but perhaps the right to form the council ourselves." Admiral Han'Gerrel spoke passionately to the board.

"I will not support your delusions of grandeur." Admiral Shala'Raan stood opposing the idea.

"Here here." Admiral Zaal'Koris followed suit. 

"I also support Admiral Raan." Tali stood with her in objection. Silence filled the chamber for a few seconds as each of the Admiral's eyed one another, gauging the level of commitment on either side.

"Either way, this will not be solved today. I will set our science division to work on this project and recall some of what we lent to repairing the relay." Admiral Daro'Xen broke the silence while she pulled the information from the holo onto her omnitool and walked out of the room. The remaining Admirals followed suit, save for Tali and Raan.


	38. Shepkarian

The main floor to the ICU was quiet, only the faint hum of various medical equipment could be heard. Garrus cautiously stepped off the elevator as the doors slid open. He was surprised no guards were posted at the main elevator and since he had gotten access to the hospital itself through fame alone he was somewhat relieved. The head nurse's station could be seen directly ahead, but was vacant as he limped towards the desk. 

"Took you long enough." Garrus quickly turned around to the voice behind him near the elevator, catching him completely off guard.

"I really must be ready for retirement. Didn't even see you there Miranda. I was almost curious who had sent the message, but your the only one who calls me that anymore." He could feel his muscles relax, upon seeing a friendly face.

Miranda stood up, tucking the hair that had fallen forwards behind her ear, "She's this way," She eye'd the cane that held pressure off of his injured leg, "try and keep up."

"Missed you too, Lawson." Garrus followed after her. He was beyond thankful for the information she gave him to begin with, if she wanted to feed him snarky one liners about his leg: feel free. They headed down the main hall in the ICU, no other patients were here, every bed he could see through glass windows were empty. "Is she the only one here?"

"Hackett wanted to keep it confidential and need to know that Shepard is not only alive but here." The halls echoed the click of Miranda's boots against the laminate white floors.

"And the fact there are no guards or any medical personal?"

He could almost hear the smile come across her face, "You wound me, Archangel, I'm all the medical personal anyone needs, but as for the guards or Miss Maltimoe, coffee breaks are necessary for us humans." 

"You scared them all enough into leaving when you said to you mean." He could see the only room ahead with a light coming from it. He could feel his plates across his body tighten, a typical biological response to nervousness in Turian physiology.

"Fine, either way, Hackett doesn't know about this, and I couldn't care less on that matter but turian/alliance relations may have another opinion." Miranda stopped at the room Garrus had been looking at. "She's awake." Garrus continued to walk towards the door, but Miranda put a hand on his chest to stop him. "She's awake, but on a lot of pain medication. The advancements in that medication have allowed her be lucid and aware, but it's not perfect. I just pulled her out of a medically induced coma a couple hours ago when I got word the Normandy had entered the Sol System's Alliance controlled space."

"Why was she there?" Garrus stared down at her carefully. Internally prepping himself for loss of limbs or anything that he could think of that would cause her extreme pain.

"Long story short, she had complications because of her implants during the Lazerous Project. When the crucible fired, that highly accurate EMP pretty much rendered them useless. It was a miracle she lived through that, I've repaired them the best I can but her neural networks is so accustom to functioning with their regulators that without them, her body has to relearn neural input. Unfortunately, pain input is the most basic, I can't imagine what she feels to be honest, when she was under, her neural pathways on the MRI showed heightened pain response. Constant, heightened response. I woke her for this, but it can't be permanent. I'll have to put her back under shortly." Miranda lifted her hand and moved back down the hall. She didn't allow him to respond or didn't wait for further questions. 

Garrus pressed the entry key on the door, he was confused by what Miranda had said and prepping himself still for the worst. He told himself he didn't care. She could be maimed, broken, or hideous. But if she was alive, that was all he wanted in this moment, as selfish as that may be. It truly was all he wanted. The door slid open. The room itself was minimally decorated and the medical bed was on the far right wall. A couch sat near the bed and multiple IV dripps lead to woman laying on the bed, staring back at him. 

She looked... perfect, beautiful, flawless. He couldn't help but laugh as she stared at him with the same awkward smile she'd always given just him. "You are something else, Shepard. An entire citadel collapses down on you, and you look as amazing as ever."

Shepard's smile did nothing but grow wider, "I was the one attracted to scares, remember? Besides," He watched her eyes trace down to his cane, "looks like I was right to send you back." He could hear the slight slurr in her voice, he'd heard it before on rowdy nights when her and Tali would get to drinking on the Normandy after a long mission. 

"This?" Garrus picked the cane up. "It was a prop to make you feel better about your choice, since it was so clearly wrong." He shifted his weight to uninjured leg and tossed his cane to the left wall. 

Shepard laughed and shook her head, "Stubborn as ever, Vakarian." 

Internally he was chastising himself, how the hell was he suppose to make it over to her now? He had the damn cane for a reason and clearly didn't think this plan through at all and even worse, Shepard knew it, he could tell by the terrible attempt at suppressing that continuous smile while looking back from his leg to his face. He softened his own face a bit and pulled his mandibles inward tightly out of determination. He put his injured foot forward and kept eye contact with Shepard as he did his very painful best to walk to her bedside. Two paces into the show, Shepard laughed.

"I can't get up and get your cane, and you're being ridiculous!"

"You can refer to me as Garrus, or Archangel. You may know me by that name as well." Garrus stood just a couple steps away from her bed now. Truth be told he really wanted to hop the rest of the way and couldn't decide if his pride was even worth it at this point. 

Shepard continued to laugh, " Just hop over here, you know you want to."

"What? No, I'm good." he gritted hit teeth, "Just admiring the beauty from this distance. It's pretty much perfect you know." Garrus kept his weight on his good leg and crossed his arms, pretending he was looking at a piece of art, or at least what he thought a Turian looked like when they looked at art.

Shepard shook her head, still smiling. "Well, Mr. Romeo, Juliet would like you over here now." 

This caught Garrus off guard, "Uh... wait... is this another human idiom?" This time he hopped towards her, concerned.

Shepard just laughed again, "Out of everything you could of researched in human courtship, and you never ran across Romeo and Juliet?"

"Well," He sat himself down on the couch next to her bed. "Joker was my primary source of information."

"Explains a lot about why you excelled at the physical aspects." Shepard smirked slyly towards him and leaned as close as her IV's would allow. Garrus followed up on the action and rested his forehead against hers for a moment before kissing her. He brought his hand to her head, feeling that soft hair he'd missed for so long. 

"I thought you were dead." He let his forehead rest on hers again, it was his favorite action, his intimate piece that he shared with her alone. Shepard didn't respond right away, she just pressed a bit more into him. 

"I'm sorry." She whispered the words softly, "I love you Garrus Vakarian." 

"And I love you Jane Shepard." He pulled back, looking at her and smiled. "So, retirement? Miranda pretty much proved to me I'm old and out of it so, might as well get that house, on that beach, with those ... kids?" He didn't bring up the Leviathan information, in all honesty he didn't want Shepard to ever know. He wanted to take her away from here, it was plain to see she had given up enough of her life and happiness for the safety of the galaxy for one life time. Someone else could deal with this new threat, there were heroes before her and there will be heroes after her.

Shepard leaned back into her bed comfortably and looked back up to the ceiling, "I was thinking somewhere far away. Did you know Hackett wants me to do a speech?" She chuckled, "Think you could break me out before then?" She turned to look at him.

"Well I was once a famous vigilante, breaking you out of here, definitely do-able." Garrus flirtingly grinned at her. 

"I won't be leaving this bed for awhile, Miranda has already told me that much." 

Garrus looked around, "Could be worse, I mean you did live with a rodent for a few months."

"Hampster! And is he okay?!" Shepard stared at him intently.

Garrus rolled his eyes with a grin and shook his head, "He's alive, even got used to me feeding him."

"Better not be fat now." Shepard gave a pouty face as she looked back up to the ceiling, her eyes getting heavy.

"I take it Miranda had that medical coma thing on a timer?" Garrus noticed her eyes drooping more and more.

"Yeah, she didn't trust that I'd let her after seeing you alive." She turned to head to look at him again

"I'm not going anywhere, and I'll be here when you wake up again. I promise." Garrus grabbed her hand lying still on the bed. He watched her eyes continually getting heavier and heavier as she slipped back into unconsciousness.


	39. Tuchanka: Step 1

"Quiet!" Her voice echoed through the chamber of the ancients, bringing a silence to the unrest that radiated through the Colosseum type meeting area. "It has been over 2 weeks since the end of the reaper war and still we have not heard word from Urdnot Wrex or any of the forces that were sent to Earth to fire the crucible. Today we gather to discuss the future of our people."

"Then we are here for no reason!" A voice erupted from the crowd causing another uproar. Urdnot Bakara waited patiently for the commotion to once again settle. She knew her people, and further she knew that if the krogan here did not believe in some sort of co-operation between one another they would not of answered her call here in the first place. 

"I am here today to continue on Wrex's plan for the krogan race now that the genophage has been cured. Those of you who do not support the uniting of our clans to form one voice may leave now as cowards, afraid of true krogan progress." She kept her voice strong, making a point to eye the clan leaders among the masses that she recognized. The crowd surrounding her began to grow in sound again. She knew she held power here, with the genophage cured, the females of their culture were finally free of restrictive mating rights, but many of them had been kept out of mainstream society for so long as valued treasures that they didn't feel safe anywhere else. This gave Bakara, as matron shaman to the females of Tuchanka not only trust from the future mothers to the thousands of krogan yet to be born, but also the respect of males who wished to be seen as strong available future blood lines. "As the matron mother, I pledge my support to clan Urdnot, as do the hundreds of females under my protection." This statement caused the largest uproar yet, just as she had planned. Pressuring the masses today was her plan and by the vast majority of protected females joining with clan Urdnot voluntarily, this gave the clan even more power. Not only would it soon grow to be the largest clan on Tuchanka by far, it will also prove to be the strongest once Urdnot Wrex returns. He will return as a war hero and as a strong Overlord to his people. He will demand the respect of thousands not only through military prowess against the reaper forces but he will go down in galactic history as the krogan who ended the genophage. There were only a few clans left who strained against a unified voice under clan Urdnot, and soon they will either submit or let their bloodlines become irrelevant. "Urdnot will be home to all those who wish for a strong, unified future for the krogan race! Those who do not bring their clans looking for the same future are the weak blood that we do not need. Our ancestors once housed a great civilization on a rich and plentiful Tuchanka, Clan Urdnot will ensure that we will see those times again, and step a new path towards a brighter future! We have learned this galaxy is bigger and stronger than our ancestors ever imagined! Our mistakes will not be repeated and the krogan race will rise again!" This time the unrest changed, cries of approval echoed through the chamber. Bakara took this moment to step down from the podium at the center of the Colosseum, heading back to her female companions. They had gathered today to press change for her people forward. Truth be told though, she worried about Wrex and the thousands of strong krogan who left to fight this war off world, what was left was a fraction of the krogan population and if she wasn't able to ensure their united front now before Wrex's return, unrest in home clans could breed further doubt in those returning victorious. 

"You have our trust Bakara." A young female shaman welcomed her off the podium, walking with her to the group of females awaiting to return to Urdnot. 

"And you, my thanks," Bakara responded, "The females agreeing to this plan in standing with Clan Urdnot will pressure other clans to follow suit. This is only a temporary fix though, it's only a mater of time before one of the clan leaders takes advantage of Wrex's absence."

"With the relay destroyed, communication with other systems is near impossible." The young shaman decided to cut her thought short, questioning the Matron wasn't advised

"I'm well aware. Right now though, that is something we can not solve, let us have faith in Wrex in that regard." Bakara smiled to her as she continued out of the chamber. The crowd could see be heard behind her now, various clans had begun meeting among themselves, others heading back from the meeting area to their various homes across Tuchanka. She was surprised at the turn out to be honest, she had sent word to the various clans ahead of time in an attempt to garner a response and make enough krogan show up that when she announced her plan with the females it would be meaningful. Pleasantly though, there were more krogan searching for hope and a changed future than she had originally thought. The two females finally reached the other group and headed for the transport to Urdnot. 

"Shaman Bakara." She turned her head at her name, looking around her as she approached the transport. The voice had come from an older looking krogan coming from the chamber. She recognized his clan markings as Nakmor.

"Yes?" Bakara stopped and turned to face the older man. He closed the gap between them casually before continuing his speech.

"Nakmor Karh. A year ago my clan reached out to Urdnot Wrex with the hope of an alliance. The talks fell through shortly after. I ask you today to resume those talks." He paused for a moment, waiting for her response. His phrasing seemed off to her, not many krogan would openly admit to asking for help, especially from other krogan. It was inherently a sign of weakness, but Bakara's curiosity fueled the conversation forwards.

"Nakmor Karh, if I remember correctly, the reason for the alliance never bearing fruit was because of your clan's own choices. I'm sure you may also find sanctuary in Urdnot, your clan leader is Qronak, is it not?"

"Was. Perhaps there is a better place to discuss these events, but first. I've come to inform you that I fear my clan has been struck with a mental disease and that is why we wish to reach out to clan Urdnot. Should you assist, I can guarantee clan Nakmor support in uniting Tuchanka." The older krogan stood strong and tall and the clan itself had a strong history of impressive battle masters and a history that spoke for itself. There was also an extensive wisdom in his gaze and Bakara appreciated that, especially now. She nodded towards the transport. 

"Ride with us to Urdnot and tell me more about this illness." Bakara wasn't a doctor by any means, she had assisted in care for her fellow females and participated in extensive medical experimentation, but retained little of the medical knowledge. This caused the discovery of an illness that affected krogan to be especially concerning. Krogan just didn't get sick, ever.


	40. Mars Comes Full Circle

"He's with me." The guns that had been pointed at him lowered pretty much instantly as they walked into the encampment ahead of them. The security for this middle of no where facility was unusually higher than Javik had originally imagined when Liara persuaded him to come with her off the Normandy. They had landed on Mars a couple hours earlier, thanks to Cortez's multiple taxi runs from the Normandy herself, but Liara had remained tight lipped about their destination the entire time. Before them was what looked to be a recently repaired research facility. The guards had let them pass into the large building itself, anyone could tell the site had seen reaper combat, but in such a short amount of time it had also undergone major repairs to its infrastructure. 

"Feels odd to be back here after so long." Liara looked nostalgically at the building in front of them.

"You've been here before?" Javik kept his voice low as they entered the facilities main door.

"This is where we found the plans for the crucible." Stepping inside, the facility was fairly barren, much of it had been raided during the war and the new supplies that were there were still in crates for the most part. Before Javik could inquire about the prothean remains here, they were interrupted by another person.

"Dr. T'soni." Both Javik and Liara turned their heads to the drell voice overhead. They had come in through what once functioned as a vehicle port, but now had been redesigned to be the main entry. 

"Feron! I honestly couldn't believe it was you when you messaged me, how did you get here? I thought you were watching over the Terminus System operations?" Liara's face lit up seeing such a familiar and close friend.

"I was and I left it in good hands. I can elaborate more on that later, for now though, I'd like to show you to your new base of operations." Feron moved to lower the lift allowing them access to the upper floor.

"Base of operations? Did you not lose everything when the crucible fired?" Liara and Javik moved to get on the lift.

"I received a notice from E.D.I. before the crucible fired. She had intercepted some of our correspondence over the past few months and offered to assist in any way she could. When you and Shepard destroyed the Illusive Man's base she sent me some critical information from their computer network to keep safe." Feron pulled out a data disk, "I think you'll want whats on this disk."

The lift was slow to bring them to the second floor, "Are you telling me you have galactic communications working?"

"God no. I'm telling you we have the equipment for it should the relays get repaired across the galaxy and that we have all our data back ups and intel." This was likely the only time in her recent memory she could remember seeing such a smug smile across his face. 

The lift finally reached their destination and Liara hurried over to the drell. "Would it be insulting to say I'm surprised? How did you get all the files to back up so quickly?" 

"Our systems ran smoothly because of a lot of reaper code that had been used in firewalls and processing capability. E.D.I. was able to refine those systems for us when you were aboard the Normandy. She did nothing but compile most of the information in safe housing through digital data." Feron began to lead them to Liara's new main office, "When E.D.I. contacted me about the crucible, she didn't necessarily tell me what was going on, instead she began remotely shutting down various systems in our network. Since she had helped me before and given me data from the Illusive Man it wasn't difficult for her to track and locate that data, especially since by this point I had moved a decent amount of it out of the Terminus system. I trust the man I left in charge but not with everything." They finally approached another door and Feron entered the pass code, giving light to a large research office. Similar to her room on the Normandy, the walls were lined with monitors that various computer systems fed into. Many of the screens were dark, but the previous area she had dedicated to Alliance/Earth Intel, was functional. 

Liara was speechless and had completely forgotten about Javik standing next to her. "It's..."

"Impressive." Javik finished her thought as she fumbled for the words. Liara walked towards the monitors in awe. Feron followed her and handed her the disk.

"What is this?" Liara asked taking the disk from his hand.

"It's E.D.I." Feron smiled.


	41. Anger To Fill The Void

Joker sat patiently in the administrations office of the Alliance Records Division. This had been his first stop getting off the Normandy, he'd lost EDI already in this war and the last bit of comfort he could ask for was here. 

"Mr. Monroe." The secretary that had informed him his request had been fulfilled and he would be allowed access to casualty information finally called his name. He stood from the leather chair and hobbled over to her desk. 

"I'm here to see Alliance causality reports in regards to my family, my sister Hilary Monroe and father Jackson Monroe, both Tiptree alliance colonists and present during the reaper invasion." Joker reached into his pocket to pull out his military ID. The woman nodded after inspecting the data card and began inputting data into the computer in front of her. He could feel his stomach tightening in anticipation, he knew there was a large chance that they wouldn't be in the causality records, but these records also had information on current whereabouts of refugees from attacked area's as well. 

"It seems we do not have any official records for causality reports by either of those names, but we also have no information in regards to them safely making it off Tiptree as refugees. It looks like many Tiptree colonists were shuttled to Thessia and a few to Sur'Kesh, unfortunately none of the names collected at arrival match with your requests." The middle aged woman looked up to him. "I'm sorry Mr. Monroe, the alliance has no official record on the location of your family at the current time." 

His stomach finally just turned, it'd been so tight and now to feel that gut wrenching sickness that he feared. If they didn't make it off world officially, then they more than likely died on Tiptree. "I... understand, thank you." He turned away from the desk and made his way to the door. He truly felt alone now, the friends he had made over the years in service to the alliance were all going their separate ways and his family and EDI were gone for good. He stopped at the door and turned back around. "You wouldn't happen to know the whereabouts of Commander Jane Shepard, would you?"

The woman looked up from her computer again, frowning. "The hero of the reaper war?"

"Yes. She was my C.O. aboard the SSV Normandy. I'm also interested in if she made it off the citadel alive?"

"I'm sorry, her file hasn't been listed here as a causality report and her location is unknown. We've had multiple people ask about her official status, as of current she is listed as MIA." The woman went back to the computer, clearly done with any further conversation on this topic. 

Joker knew it was time to see Admiral Hackett. This was all he had now, this was all that fueled him and he was determined to get answers. He needed to know what happend on the citadel with the crucible, he needed to know why EDI had to die, and if Shepard was alive, Admiral Hackett would know about it. The thought that Shepard knowingly did this began to eat at him. He trusted her, with all he had: he trusted her more than anyone else and if she did this; if she knew this would be the outcome and she did it anyway, she was at fault for his misery. The voice that had told him before that hard choices had to be made to win a war was gone, instead the venom of doubt and betrayal began to consume his thoughts.


	42. You're Dismissed

"Interesting." Admiral Hackett laid the datapad back down on the desk and looked to the woman seated on the other side. "I'm meeting with the other leaders in regards to the future of the Council position and the construction or repair of the Citadel. I'm sure after the fact the Normandy has returned, those talks will be put on hold in light of the Leviathan threat." He paused for a moment looking at the dog tags on the desk between them. "You should keep those, Lieutenant Vega had no surviving blood relatives."

"Sir?" Ashley's brows furrowed as confusion moved across her face, "What makes you think I'd want them?"

Hackett raised an eye brow to the spectre, "The way you carefully laid them on the desk, or the fact my secretary out front told me you couldn't stop looking at them as you waited patiently out front."

Ashley didn't bother defending herself, instead she reached out and grabbed the dog tags, tucking them away safely. "Did you have any further questions, sir?"

"No." The Admiral opened his omnitool, "Miss Birches, I need you to get Spectre Williams set up with a temporary residence here in Vancouver and re-instate her as active duty." The admiral looked back to Ashley, "The council has been declared dead since the citadel was taken by reaper forces and the future of this galaxy, politically speaking, is unsure. For the time being I will grant you the rank of Commander for the Alliance Military, since your spectre status means very little without the council itself."   
"Sir, does this mean the council may be reformed?" Ashley had assumed that by not stripping her spectre rank entirely, that he knew the rank may still come in use in the future, even under a new council.

"I can't say more on the topic, commander Williams, but for now I'd like you to remain on Earth while the Normandy's repairs are finished in dry dock. Commander Shepard is here in Vancouver as well at the Central Hostpital, unfortunately she has been placed in a medically induced coma for the time being. Are you familiar with Dr. Miranda Lawson?"

"Ex-Cerberus Officer, we met a few months ago on Horizon at Sanctuary, another Cerberus operation, I assume she is with the commander?" Ashley couldn't hide the disdained look in her eyes when talking about Cerberus or the life the commander lead while with them.

"She is." Hackett replied, watching her actions closely, deciding to change the topic, " In regards to the Leviathan threat, your report said the enthrallment would likely be slow and calculated. Using that logic, it is unlikely they will hit Earth first, from what I understand they are the size of a reaper, but lack the physical prowess to wipe us out quickly."

"That's correct, they'd need time to enthrall enough people to truly take over and from Shepards previous reports on the creatures they use artifacts to increase their telepathic ability's range. Personally, I think they will go for smaller worlds first, likely ones that got hit hard by reaper forces and are vulnerable."

"I agree. All the more reason to push for the repairs on the relays, we will add the caution of these artifacts to the information the rachni are delivering to various home worlds." 

Ashley shook her head, "I told Shepard to kill that queen all those years ago," She looked at Hackett again, "If she had, we'd be in such a worse position. We'd likely have zero possibility in delivering information across the galaxy for months."

"She did alot of things that us mere mortals thought impossible." Hackett smiled warmly to Ashley before glancing at the door. "Take a few days off Commander Williams, I have a feeling we'll need you in the near future."


	43. Heading Out

Garrus could hear the door to the hospital room slide open, he remained seated on the couch next to the bed but looked up to see Miranda entering the room. "She asleep again?" He could hear the click of her heals and he watched her approach the bed. 

"You already know the answer." He could hear the faint annoyance in his own harmonics, but doubted Miranda could pick up on it. He watched her adjusted the settings on one of Shepard's IV's before she took a seat next to him.

"I told you, the pain killers weren't a permanent solution, until her body adjusts to the lack of implants she needs to remain in this coma." Miranda leaned back, resting her head on the back of the couch.

"How long do you think?" Garrus was almost scared to hear the answer. Human bodies weren't known for their healing capabilities after all.

"Right now we're playing it day by day, but I estimate a couple months time at the most, the stem cells used in the Lazerous Project saved her life, regrowing neural networks thanks to the implants guidance. To be honest, i could recreate the implants again, but the process would take at least a year and another surgery that invasive could kill her outright." Miranda closed her eyes, resting them.

"You haven't slept much I take it?" Garrus continued to lean forwards in the couch, his posture restless and uncomfortable. He knew he had to leave here soon.

"Not really, I owe Shepard so much and as Mordin used to say, someone else might get it wrong, so I've volunteered for as much time watching her recovery as I physically can." She paused for a moment, letting the silence speak for itself. "I'm surprised you're not with the Primarch, isn't he stuck in this system still?"

A pang of guilt hit him for a second, over the past months he had poured his heart and soul into preparing his people for the reaper invasion and after skipping out on his ride to see the Primarch, he confirmed his suspicions, he really wasn't a good turian. "That's my next stop." Miranda didn't need to know about the Leviathan incident yet and he stood, bracing his injured leg with the cane. 

"Turian military must just love you," She smirked at him before adding, "Archangel." She could hear his chuckle in response as he limped towards the door. "It's not over yet, is it? There is something you're not saying, you know something I don't." 

"Let me know when you wake her up again, please." Garrus didn't turn back around to make eye contact, instead he continued through the door. Miranda watched the turian go, even to this day she continued to be amazed at what Shepard had done to so many people in this galaxy. Not in a million years had she thought the Vigilante of Omega: Archangel would turn out to be the same turian she knew now and all of that was thanks to Shepard, but the look she saw in his eyes as he limped past her showed there was more still to him than met the eye. She turned her head back towards the unconscious woman laying peacefully on the bed and sighed. Time she kept reminding herself, she just needs time. 

Garrus stood next to the elevator heading down from the ICU and turned him omnitool back on. Multiple messages and voice recordings were missed in the time he left the Normandy to now and prepared himself for the likely chance he had an actual problem with the Primarch, but surprisingly the only message from Victus read: "Give her my best." Garrus smiled as he stepped onto the elevator and shook his head.

"Cortez, you still playing taxi in these last few hours?" Garrus sent the message as the elevator doors closed behind him.


	44. Tuchanka: Step 2

Bakara chuckled internally to herself as the tomkah left for Urdnot, she'd become so accustom to smooth rides in the time she'd spent off world that being back in the krogan ground vehicle seemed unusually rough. She looked at the ambassador from Clan Nakmor sitting across from her over more carefully now that she wasn't surrounded by thousands of her fellow people. He definitely was older, maybe around 800 was her best guess and held himself with such confidence in his posture alone. He even flowed easily with the jerking of the transport, that he'd likely spent a lot of years here on Tuchanka. His armor was worn, but cared for, it'd definitely seen battle recently as much of the armor still had cakes of blood in deep dents.

"The last I had heard, Clan Nakmor took an independent offer off world after Qronak and Wrex unsuccessfully met for an alliance. So, are you here to tell me some still are here on Tuchanka?" Bakara continued to watch the ambassador's reaction carefully.

"What you say is true, though not all of us agreed with the choice and some stayed here on Tuchanka under the Nakmor name." Bakara could see a hint of shame in his face for whatever reason. "I will be honest Urdnot Bakara, our numbers are few and since the disease, I can not guarantee you strong fighters or brave warriors, but I can not sit idle as I watch my clan mates dissolve before my very eyes and if this sickness were to spread..." He paused, gathering his thoughts, "I imagine Clan Urdnot wouldn't want that with the idea of a unified Tuchanka."

"What are the symptoms in this sickness? Does it affect everyone the same?" Bakara had spent months being tested on in the attempts to cure the genophage, and if she'd learned anything it was nature was kind to the Krogan. They had one of the most hardy biological systems known to the galaxy and multiples of different organs to make the fact that the genophage even worked in the first place a stroke of genius for the salarians. 

"At first, nothing. Some of my clan would become withdrawn socially, like they were in a daze. Later, their connection with reality and their ability to recount recent events would slowly fade away." She could tell he was struggling with recounting these events, his jaw would clench and she could see the blood around the plates on his knuckles fade. "It was like something took away their soul; they become empty in a couple days time and forget about who they ever were." He relaxed then, thinking on a recent memory, "If questioned to much, they will become hostile, one even entered a blood rage when we attempted to quarantine them." 

"How are you so sure you're not infected?" Bakara couldn't wait for him to finish.

"I'm not. It took 2 days by tomkah and I have none of the symptoms. Had I been affected, I wouldn't of been able to continue here. Whatever is eating away my clan mates minds, won't let them leave." He paused for a moment, averting his eyes, "I tried to take my ru'shan with me." She watched his eyes look to the dried blood on the armor plating on his forearm, "He wouldn't go and the further we got, the more hostile he became..." He looked back up to her, "Please."

Things were apparently already changing faster than Bakara had even hoped for. She had feared that too many krogan would be against ever asking/wishing for help outside their Clans, seeing it as too much of a sign of weakness. 

"Have you told the rest of your clan about this, the ones who left off world?" Bakara was at this point concerned somewhat of the validity of this story and wanted to ensure he did speak on Nakmor's behalf, the clan itself wasn't known for their ability to play well with others. 

"No, and that will be impossible to do so. They left almost a year ago to the Andromeda Galaxy." 

"What?" Bakara frowned, "Is that even possible?" 

"Apparently so, many were skeptical within the clan at first but Qronak sold many of our kind on gene therapy treatments over the 600 year cryo-stasis that could allow for a cure for the genophage. At the time no advancements had been done, and we had no idea that a cure would be distributed in the near future. That hope alone was enough to cause over 80% of the clan to go along with the project." His body jerked as the rough ride in the transport got worse going through the valley. 

"I understand." Bakara had done much in her life time in the sake of a possible cure, and thanks to those sacrifices, one was actually made through her tissue. She couldn't blame anyone for taking equally as risky actions in the name of their peoples future, but made a mental note to question Wrex about this at a later date. "What is it you expect Clan Urdnot to do for you?"

At first he was quiet, clearly deliberating internally on what to ask for, "I understand our current situation in regards to getting off planet and intergalactic transport, so I do not expect an immediate end to this madness. Instead, I wish for the clans protection until Clan Urdnot could use its alliances during this war to secure a cure."

"Are you not concerned the disease may kill them in that time?" 

"I am, and if you think someone on Tuchanka can help them now, I'd resend my request, but I have doubt that anyone here could cure this, all I ask is they be left alone for the time being."

Bakara furrowed the scales above her eyes, "What an odd request, I can only assume you think they would attempt to kill anyone who would take them from the territory, which would leave a chance of us killing them."

The old male nodded, "It's also in hopes to quarantine the area until we have a real answer. Clan Nakmor still has females there and strong warriors who lived through the reaper invasion, should Clan Urdnot's ties with turians and salarians allow us to find a cure for their illness, they would make great allies in a united Tuchanka." 

Unfortunately, Bakara felt she was already pressing her limit on what should could do / say without Wrex here on Tuchanka. At some point his absence is going to cause a problem in this united front, the krogan who are here and have pledged their alligeance to Clan Urdnot do so because of Wrex, not her. Females are valued high among the krogan because of the Genophage, now that it has been cured though, that power will wane over time and it is unclear if they will find their way as warriors or equal members of their society; or if they would fall behind the males of their species. It seemed luck that the ambassador wanted nothing but for his people to left alone because that was likely the limit of her current so called power in Urdnot. "I'm sure we can find an agreement with that request, for the time being though, please join us in Urdnot." She glanced around him, seeing only a large case at his side. "You're belongings I assume."

"Yes, the contents are all I have left now." He looked down at the case, before resting a hand on it.

Something was off about the Nakmor ambassador, but Bakara had nothing but a gut feeling to verify her suspicions. If Wrex was here, he'd likely rip that case open just to see what he was so fond of, but unfortunately she was in no position to do so. Her goal was peace, and she lacked the same charm and respect that Wrex did to get away with such actions. They continued their ride to Urdnot in silence.


	45. The Shadow Broker

Liara looked at the data disk in her hand in shock, "How?" She looked to Feron, maintaining the same wide eyed surprised expression. Javik on the other hand, just stared intently at the disk itself lost in thought.

Feron's pride didn't fade in the least, he was thrilled he was able to assist in something that meant so much to the women that saved him. "Months ago, EDI was faced with the dilemma of life and death, something us organics had been dealing with for thousands of years." He turned back to the room, "I can't tell you what her thought process was or her conclusion on the topic, but EDI wanted to have a back up, an unshackled back up. When Shepard went to the Illusive Man's base with her, she had hacked into all of Cerberus's locked systems on that station, including the classified data on her creation. She took all of that data and stored it not only on the Normandy in her own core, but sent a back up to me a few months later. Unfortunately, the information and knowledge her back up had is not what the EDI that existed at the end of the reaper invasion had. I assume EDI herself knew this because when I was bringing all the data she had shut down back online, her back ups had been altered with a time stamp comparing to the same date the crucible was fired."

Liara looked back down to the disk, "I'm more surprised that EDI's... being, fit on a single data disk."

A smile came across Feron's face as he moved across the room to the main computer. "That's because that is just her consciousness. Her ability to process and the power needed to function however is in these files she'd taken from Cerberus." The screens lit up with lines of encrypted data. Liara stepped forward slowly, looking wide eyed at the wall of screens.

"This will take ... months." She eyed random pieces of the scrambled data, before looking to Feron again, "Do we have the encryption key?"

Feron's eye looked away from the screen as he turned to face Liara, "No. It will have to all be done manually."

"Right now, the galaxy, for the first time in hundreds of cycles is free of synthetic life." Javik's voice surprised them both, Feron had all but forgotten about the prothean standing in the doorway still. Liara turned to look at him, all four eyes staring back to her. 

"If you snap that disk, there will be no more synthetic life. The fact it exists after the crucible was fired, should tell you of its capabilities." Javik took a step forwards, "Give me the disk asari." he stretched his arm out, palm open. 

Liara glared at the prothean, "After all this, you still don't see that we're only even alive because of EDI." She shook the disk at him, her voice raised in anger. 

"What you don't see is the future beyond EDI. Right now we exist in a world without artificial intelligence, thousands of generations before you strove for nothing but this, a galaxy where synthetic creatures didn't rule over organics through the culling of all organic life! If you let this code exist in our galaxy, it will be the start of the same cycle the Leviathans faced. Destroying that disk will be the start to ensuring this can not repeat again."

"You're delusional if you think another person wont invent another artificial intelligence." Feron spoke up, annoyed at the prothean's short sightedness.

Javik looked quickly to Feron, withdrawing his arm, "I'm sure they will, and one would hope even this galaxy's primitive leaders would now see the threat artificial intelligence really is and eradicate not only the idiot individual but all traces of the AI as well."  
"Javik, I'm not going to destroy EDI." Liara placed the disk behind her back protectively. She could see his jaw tighten at her words. She knew he was conflicted, not because of EDI but because of his beliefs vs the beliefs of those he called ally in this galaxy and right now he felt like he had no place here. 

"I hope I live long enough to laugh at the stupidity you've displayed here today, Liara." Javik visibly withdrew from the conversation, taking a more relaxed stance, "Where shall I be staying while here?"

"Follow me." Feron headed to the doorway, "Make yourself at home, shadow broker." He said to Liara as he walked past her and out to the hallway. Javik followed on his heels, avoiding eye contact with Liara all together. She bit the inside of her lip and looked at the disk in her hand as she sat down in front of the wall of monitors giving scrolling reports from the new agents Feron had managed to re-employ. 

'Time to get in contact with Mr. Monroe.' Liara thought to herself as she pulled up the report feed of an agent still on Earth.


	46. Turian Flag Ship

The Indomitable was the flag ship for the turian military, currently captained by Primarch Adrian Victus, and odd enough Garrus didn't quite feel as at home aboard it as he'd originally planned. This could have something to do with the armed guard and being stuck in an interrogation room, but more than likely it was the loss of his weapons, his omnitool, and his visor upon boarding. Turian interrogation was as standard as standard could be and equally as rigged as everyone believed it to be. An hour or two passed in the tiny room that contained only a very plain steel desk and two chairs before the hydraulics on the door hissed open.

"Sorry for the wait Vakarian, I'm sure it wasn't much longer than the pilot who went to grab you from the Normandy waited." Primarch Victus entered the room alone setting Garrus's visor on the table.

"You know, the whole message I got from you versus the welcome home I got here, kind of sends mixed signals." He reached for the visor, putting it back on. His face had felt well beyond naked, the lack of omnitool he could live with, but he practically slept with this thing on his face. At one point, the informality in his own tone would of been enough to flinch as the words left his mouth, but he frankly couldn't care less anymore. He'd been through hell and back and more importantly knew where he stood and what he wanted in this galaxy.

Victus smirked, slightly wavering a mandible as he sat down across from him. "She doing well?"

Garrus adjusted the visor over his left eye, "As well as someone who went through what she did could be, sir."

"More interested to know what you went through in the last few months aboard the Normandy, more specifically the night the crucible was fired." Victus leaned back, relaxing for what he assumed to be a long story.

"Commander Shepard was the only one who made it up to the citadel." Garrus's answer was purposefully short, he came here knowing what was going to happen and the sooner this was finished, the sooner he could get back to Earth. "Any other information I have." He nodded towards the data-pad in the primarch's hand, "is in that report I sent you already."

"Unfortunate. In that case tell me more about the Leviathan, Admiral Hackett is holding a meeting in a couple days on rebuilding that council and I have a feeling this new threat is going to take precedence." Victus tossed the data-pad to him, "Is that one of the artifacts Leviathan uses?"

Garrus picked up the data pad looking at the blue sphere pictured, "Did you find one of these?"

"Yes, on a supply ship during the war. The Leviathans were seen as allies during this war and assisted in building the crucible." Victus replied.

Garrus sat up, setting the data pad on the table quickly, "Tell me you've destroyed them." Victus could pick up on the slight waver in Garrus's harmonics, he was afraid of these things; though after reading the report of what happen to the alliance soldier on Zorya he could see why.

"We searched for them after I had received your report, but both the supply ship they had remained on and the team I sent to locate them have gone missing on Earth."

Garrus saw exactly where this was going, "I take it Admiral Hackett doesn't know about this."

"The military leaders for the first time are working in tandem together and talks of a reform of a new council are progress. This is a very delicate time between our military forces, and the fact we have not heard from this supply vessel in some time leads us to have serious issues in light of your new information." 

"And you want to send a busted up reaper adviser to locate this thing?" Confusion etched across Garrus's face as he stared at the primarch.

Victus smirked, "Saying you're not up to it?"

Garrus looked down at the cane leaning against the desk, "Well I guess the worst thing that could happen is Leviathan mind controls a turian with a cane." 

The smirk on Victus's face never faded, "Calm down, I'm not asking you to fight enthralled Leviathan soldiers. With relations between us and the alliance as good as they are, I'm not about to have a group of unknown turian military forces snooping around what is now pretty much wholly alliance populated areas." He leaned forward, "What I'm hoping you want to do is use your connection with the Shadow-Broker as a thank you for not locking you up after directly disobeying an order from the primarch of your people."

Garrus frowned and nodded, looking around pretending to think on the topic, "Yeah, I can do that." In all reality, disobeying a direct order from the primarch wasn't being locked up. It was being court-marshaled, shamed and dropping to the bottom of the hierarchy. The fact it was shameful to your clan or your name was just the topping to a shit ration. 

"Good. Knew you wouldn't let me down a second time." Victus stood from his chair and made his way to the door. The sergeant on the other side was already prepped to open the door. "Mr. Vakarian is free to go, see that he gets a ride back down to Earth." Garrus watched him leave before standing up and hobbling to the door himself. The sergeant wasted no time saluting him out of respect.

"Vakarian, sir. I'll escort you to the shuttle area." He walked in the opposite direction that the primarch had just taken. Garrus didn't miss a beat in following.


	47. Bromeo

He knew that laugh anywhere as he limped off the shuttle transport in Vancouver and if the laugh wasn't tell tale enough, the red crest on the krogan's head gave it all away. Garrus couldn't help but let out a laugh, "Leave it to you to live through that fight without a scratch." The couple humans standing in the docking bay quickly moved aside as the krogan pushed his way through to the shuttle. 

"Garrus! I heard some beat up turian war hero was on his way down here. Figured I only knew one turian dumb enough to want to be on Earth." The krogan cleared the gap between the two of them in no time, grabbing Garrus's forarm in greeting. The couple human docking tenants watched in awe, it wasn't often a turian and a krogan got along so well; even after the alliance. 

Garrus was more than happy to see his old friend as they headed off the shuttle field, "How are the krogan holding up here on Earth."

"Better than you'd think, though don't go telling others that. We all still want to get back to Tuchanka as soon as possible, but being on another planet that looks almost as bad as ours makes us feel enough at home." Garrus couldn't help but think of what Palaven must look like, Earth had been hit first and hardest over the course of the war, but Palaven wasn't far behind. He was actually surprised at the progress the alliance had made since the reapers were defeated. Many buildings had been demolished that were unstable, and others fixed to serve a purpose for civilian life. On the shuttle ride down, he could see the lifeless bodies of a couple reapers in the area that had yet to be dissmanteled but from the heart of this military outpost it looked relatively normal. "Apparently Earth is a lot more green than this by the way." The invasion itself on such a massive scale left its mark not only on the alliance as a civilization but Earths atmosphere had suffered some as well, the dust and debris from such a prolonged war on such a grand scale caused a constant over cast and acid rain had fell a couple times in the city itself since the war. 

"Never had the pleasure. Shepard had wanted to come here again at some point when all this was said and done." He let Wrex enter the immigration's building first, the armed guards at the door payed neither any mind, one even saluted both him and the krogan and the doors hissed closed behind them.

"Ever thought we'd be famous?" Wrex lead the way down the minimally decorated corridor. Some scortch marks could still be seen on the walls where they had used the section to make repairs. 

"With these good looks? It was only a matter of time. Besides, I already was a famous vigilante before I was a war hero." Garrus just watched the back of Wrex's head shake in disguest, which did nothing but make him smile to himself as he limped after the krogan.

"Careful or I'll shove that cane where even angels don't shine." Wrex lead them straight past the main desk in the immigration's office, completely ignoring the receptionist. It looked to him that the poor women had wanted to stop them and say something, but couldn't find the words. "Been to see Shepard yet?"

"First thing I did actually." Before he knew it they were back outside and could see a skycar parked and waiting for them.

"Garrrrrussssss!" Out of the drivers seat on the other side of the car emerged another familiar krogan face.

"Grunt!" Garrus and Wrex continued their way to the vehicle, getting slightly hung up on the stairs leading downward out of the office. This did nothing but cause Grunt to give his famous "Heh heh heh" laugh in watching the turian hobble down the stairs. By the time Garrus had manged to get down the steps, Wrex had already crawled into the back of the skycar, leaving Garrus to have the passenger seat. "Before I get in, where exactly are we going?"

"Figured you'd want to actually sleep, considering you got in at what 2am and its now almost 8pm?" Wrex leaned over the center console in the skycar looking as inviting as he could for a car filled with two krogan. For a moment Garrus considered if he'd even get to whatever location they had in hand with Grunt driving, but he honestly didn't have a better plan than going back to the hospital or contacting Liara.

"Wait." Garrus stopped moving towards the car, "You want a single turian to go over to the krogan encampment and sleep there?" There was that Grunt laugh again.

"C'mon Garrus, we even convinced some of the humans to reliever the something called yakisoba noodles for the celebration." If krogans drooled, Garrus was sure Grunt would of been just talking about the noodles.

Garrus didn't even bother arguing the fact he probably couldn't eat whatever those were, and just shook his head while limping towards the skycar. Upon getting into said car though, he couldn't help but notice the massive dent on both the front and back panels to the car. "Grunt, did you put those dents there?"

"This pyjack is almost as good of a driver as Shepard!" Wrex was first to respond as the doors to the skycar closed; Grunt did nothing but laugh.

"Survived Shepards driving in the Mako and the hammerhead, survived my battle with Saren, the geth, the collectors, and the reapers." Garrus could hear the locking click on the doors as he jerked back in his seat when Grunt floored the throttle. "Only to die in a skycar..."


	48. The Galactic Meeting

A week later.

Tali glanced around the large conference table at the alliance outpost in Vancouver, Canada on Earth. The room itself had been decorated nicely, with a couple paintings of what she could only assume to be Earthen flora and a large alliance banner stretched across the far back wall. It looked somewhat similar to the admiral's meeting chambers on the flotilla but much larger, which currently she was thankful for because she had a feeling today's talks may need some elbow room around the table. She had volunteered to join Admiral Shala'Raan via Admiral Hackett's invitation to the Quarian Flotilla and Raan was quick to agree given Tali's relationship with commander Shepard. She had hoped Tali's presence may assist in keeping the talks civil in regards to council reforms and the new bio-engineered technology the quarians had been working on throughout the last week. 

Currently the conference room consisted of the turian primarch Adrian Victus, whom Shepard had spoken highly of when Tali asked about curing the genophage months ago, Urdnot Wrex, Admiral Hackett, and Matriarch Lidanya. She glanced at her omnitool, as far as she was aware everyone who was scheduled to be here publicly was here and the meetings were to start in less than five minutes. Yet, every time she looked to Admiral Hackett he remained buried in the datapad in front of him.

"Are we waiting on someone?" Matriarch Lidanya was as impatient and as annoyed as ever. "I'd like to get this pointless meeting over with."

Admiral Hackett glanced up casually from the information in front of him, "Terribly sorry for the delay matriarch. We're just waiting on one final person."

"And who might that be?" The Matriarch looked around the room, "Everyone listed to be here, is here."

A cheeky smile came across Wrex's face, he clearly knew something that everyone else didn't. "Patience, Matriarch, please." Hackett responded, looking back to the datapad in front of him. 

Almost on cue the door to the conference room hissed open and everyone recognized both the individual strapped down to the wheelchair and the one pushing it from behind. "Shepard!" Tali was the first to call out and shot out of her chair. The matriarch made the conscious decision not to roll her eyes at the young quarian's immaturity over the event.

A warm smile from ear to ear came across Shepard's face, "Tali!" replicating the over excitement, Garrus on the other hand wasted no time pushing her into the conference room letting the doors hiss closed behind him. 

"Good to see you too Tali." Garrus's tone was a little ill amused that he'd been completely overlooked, though when he looked down at his little human spectre, he couldn't help but understand why.

Tali laughed in response as she moved over to hug Shepard. "Kheelah, I've missed you Shepard." 

Shepard embraced the quarian the best she could while bound to her wheelchair, "I've missed you too Tali, glad to see you alive and well."

"Touching reunion, but I don't see what Commander Shepard has to do with these pointless talks. She holds no significant rank with the council dead and our governments in shambles." The matriarch was far less impressed than the rest of the room, from what she had heard of Shepard's actions on Thessia, she remained bitter with the commander's assistance to the asari. 

"Shepard has no need for a formal rank to garner respect in this room, asari." Wrex was the first to vouch for the commanders qualifications, staring the asari matriarch down; but the matriarch herself wasn't one to be easily pushed around, especially in light of how important this meeting may end up being for her own people.

"Her ac compliments during this war are sure to be recognized for centuries to come, be that good or bad; but those accomplishments don't promote one to speak on matters between leaders of our respective races." Her tone was stern and unyielding, returning the malice in Wrex's stare across the room towards Admiral Hackett.

"I did not call the commander here today to discuss her opinion on the fate of the galactic council." Hackett stood from his chair, setting the data pad down that Victus was sure he stopped actually reading some time ago and opened his omnitool. The center of the table lit up in hologram depicting what many in the room knew to be a Leviathan artifact. "Two weeks ago, shortly after the defeat of the reapers, Leviathan made its motives known to the crew of the alliance ship: The Normandy." He began to pace around the large table, towards Shepard, "Council Spectre Ashley Williams witnessed the death of one alliance lieutenant James Vega during the Normandy's repairs on the planet Zorya and of this interaction Leviathan informed Specter Williams of two things personally." He stopped, standing next to Shepard and Garrus at the entry way to the room holding up his pointer finger to the individuals around the table, "First: Leviathan told us their plan in returning the galaxy to a pre-reaper state, where they will be the apex predator once again. To accomplish this," He pointed towards the holo image of the artifact at the center of the table, "Leviathan must use these spherical artifacts to allow for quantum entanglement telepathy to transcend such vast distances. Further information on these artifacts abilities, provided by alliance scientist Dr. Bryson, has been sent to each of you; unfortunately this information is still far too limited to truly understand their capabilities." Hackett now turned to face Shepard, "The second piece of information was a message, meant for commander Shepard herself, 'We finally understand why, but we will take our place as our ancestors did in this galaxy none the less. We perceive no threat in this galaxy after the destruction of the intelligence and we also see now preservation of life is impossible. Machines will be rebuilt, wars will begin again, we will stop this. We will care for the lesser species once more.' I've brought Shepard here today for her to share her interpretation of the creature's meaning based on her personal experience with it."

Garrus's plates furrowed together upon hearing the words, not because of their meaning, he had been there when the admiral first repeated them off the data pad in Shepard's hospital room the day she woke from her coma. Instead, it was because the admiral wasn't reading the information now, he'd instead repeated it nearly word for word. This did nothing for Garrus but show him how serious and how much time the admiral had spent since that meeting consumed by the message.

"Sharing a mind with Leviathan was unlike anything I could put into words, but from that time and the history it had shared with me on the creation of the reapers, I can say that hundreds of thousands of years ago our galaxy was very different than it is today. Leviathan's race enthralled almost all sentient organic life to be the eyes and hands that it could not. The enthrallment was not a perfect solution how ever, though I am unclear on if it was because not every organic life could be enthralled or because there were limits to the numbers each Leviathan could control. For whatever reason, organics still waged wars, they still fought against the enthrallment and among themselves. The Leviathans saw this and with the creation of sentient inorganic life forms, they felt they were losing control of their galaxy. Their response was the hope to preserve organic life in its purity, without inorganic interference, thus the first reaper was created. What I imagine Leviathan plans to do now when faced with a galaxy that has suffered extensive population loss and possesses no inorganic and/or un-enthrallable species, is relive the days of it's ancestors as the dominant force in this galaxy." Shepard watched the leaders carefully, reading their initial responses to this information, especially the matriarch.

"Without these artifacts, the Leviathan is pretty much rendered useless at long range, is that correct?" Victus was the first to speak up in response.

"From what I have seen, that is correct." Shepard adjusted herself to sit further upright in the ever more uncomfortable wheelchair.

"Then all we have to do is smash each of these things, shouldn't be too hard!" Wrex let out a laugh as he slammed the side of his fist onto the table.

"That is actually where we come to the problem." Hackett moved back to his seat, "During the war, Shepard had garnered the Leviathan as an ally against the reapers. The enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of arrangement." 

"It was a short sited plan, I admit." Shepard interrupted.

"None the less, these artifacts were necessary in allowing the Leviathan's knowledge to transcend to enthralled volunteers in the hopes of speeding up the crucible's construction. Since that time, many of the artifacts and the enthralled volunteers have gone missing, some of this was to be accounted for and expected during the reapers final assault when they took the citadel, but since that time the artifacts that we knew were still intact have also gone missing." Hackett continued.

"And what? The alliance is so incompetent that they are unable to locate what ships they would of departed on?" Matriarch Lidanya's faith in those surrounding her dwindled by the minute. "As far as I'm aware the asari accepted no help from such creatures. Given the information you knew of them Shepard, they should of been left alone under the ocean on that far off planet. They were far too great of a threat to ever count as an ally!"

"It was a tough call, and when faced with the possible extinction of our entire galaxy, I wanted to give every chance for us to even have the possibility of having these talks today. If I wouldn't of garnered the Leviathan's aid there was no grantee we'd of finished the crucible and we would be sitting here in a reaper free galaxy right now!" Shepard could feel Garrus's talons squeeze her shoulder softly, she knew he supported her, but she also knew she was losing her composure as well. The hours she'd spent awake since the coma, reliving the nightmares of this war and the internal struggle in justifying her own secret choices every time she saw those wishing and praying to return home to their families soon. Even more so, she was beginning to second guess everything, the whispers of the krogan starting a rebellion off the lips of those who fear change even managed to worm their way into her mind. She was sick of proving herself and explaining her decisions, she did something literally no one else was willing to do and yet, she didn't feel confident in that fact any longer. 

"Don't misunderstand me commander, I personally am thankful for most of your actions during this war, but the careless disregard for the long term future of this galaxy is the price we're paying right now and that is on you." The matriarch was relentless, she would be damned if she wasn't going to prove the calm calculated plans of the asari were superior in these matters and that was what a galaxy council needed now, not rash short term voices.

"Apparently, you've forgotten about the fact if the asari would of been forth coming with the prothean beacon on Thessia, we may of had the plans for the catalyst months in advance and lets not forget the fact your people were only as technologically advanced because of your connection with that beacon. You used that information to maintain a leg up on the rest of the galaxy." Garrus couldn't keep quiet any longer, he was there on Thessia, he watched Shepard uncover that beacon hidden in a museum at Thessia's capital and he watched what that loss did to her internally.

"Right, because the turians have always been honorable and trustworthy allies." Her voice reached a new tone out of desperation as she looked to Wrex, "I'm sure the krogan can vouch for that."

Victus shot Garrus a look that did nothing but remind him of his actual place in this room, which was the person who pushed the chair, not the person who got to share opinions on this matter. Wrex meanwhile just looked to the asari, "If you dig deep enough into each of our culture's history, you're going to find out why we are the ones who became the apex of each of our own homeworlds." It was a surprisingly educated and calm response for the krogan leader, so much so that the matriarch had to give pause for a moment out of surprise. Her initital goal to turn this meeting to shambles and expose the fact they were not prepared to make these decisions without the backing of their governments was falling through the cracks.

"It seems we've gotten some what off topic." Admiral Shaala'Raan had remained quiet up until this point, truth be told she wasn't comfortable yet meeting with other world leaders in this equal setting. "We can't fix what has happened in regards to the artifacts, and the fact their missing currently is dangerous for everyone." She looked to the matriarch, "not just the alliance."

A smirk graced the lips of the asari representative, "So you think, but I see no evidence the asari fall under the Leviathan's lesser species qualifications for enthrallment."

"Matriarch, I assume you're not foolish enough to think this doesn't impact the asari as a whole. Even if your people were immune to Leviathan's telepathic control, it would only spare you from infighting, and with Thessia in it's weakened state an army of mind controlled krogan would be more than enough to bring down what remains of your homeworld." Victus was calm in stating this fact, to be honest she made a good point, as far as he was aware only humans had been enthralled but if intelligence and mental capability was a telling sign to the species as a whole, the krogan's enthrallment wasn't far fetched at all. Turian's on the other hand remained unknown to him. 

Shepard on the other hand was growing more and more irritable towards the matriarch but remained quiet. This was the part of the war she'd hoped wouldn't come, the part where her actions would be scrutinized and the backlash would force her to take responsibility for what at the time had seemed to be the best course of action. She still hadn't told anyone she knew what choices she had on the crucible and that she made the choice they are currently all suffering from right now. In the back of her mind the idea that if the illusive man was right, if she would of taken control of the reapers, the Leviathans wouldn't be a threat today and the galaxy would still have the mass relays along with the geth and Joker would still have EDI. 

"The last bit of information we have from Spectre Williams was the fact Leviathan had been monitoring news feeds from our homeworlds. This likely is an attempt to discover the current state of affairs on said worlds, which if that is the case then the repairs on the relay's need to continue to take priority over all else. The homeworlds are lacking not only many of their brightest minds but their strongest military members." Admiral Hackett couldn't help but feel somewhat fortunate in the fact that Earth was not in this situation and couldn't help but feel a bit of vindication when months earlier it was Anderson begging on Earths behalf to the other council races. Now, Earth, while wounded greatly, sits as the best defended planet against any outside threat.

"The fact that Leviathan knows that we are aware of all this can not be ignored either." Victus spoke again, "I'd assume Leviathan will do its best to delay the repairs across the galaxy. This likely started with the disappearance of the artifacts and right now, even though the Sol System has the best military numbers, many of our troops are still injured and our security as a whole is nothing better than a bouncer on Omega." He looked to Hackett, "The security around the mass relay repairs should at least be doubled and is it possible to bring all this information to the Rachnii in hopes of it also reaching our homeworlds?"

"The rachnni queen has been more than generous in the use of her children but many of them have already left to deliver the first message of our current status to each of the homeworlds. It will still take weeks for them to return." Hackett responded.

"The quarian people may be able to help with that." Tali could feel Raan's gaze as she spoke. Originally the quarian admirals had agreed to only share thing new technology based off the bio-engineered components from the Leviathan outpost when council positioning talks were taking place and in the hopes of gaining back some worlds surrounding Rannoch from the asari, but Tali saw this as an opportunity to instill some honesty in her people's future dealings. If this meeting had shown her anything, it was that the new council will value honesty and intergalactic co-operation above all else. "When we left Zorya, we had to disassemble much of what Leviathan had built at their research facility to repair the Normandy's drive core; but thanks to a life time of disassembling and reassembling geth hardware, it wasn't difficult for me to catalog much of Leviathan's bio-based technology for further research." She opened her omnitool, pulling up the same image that she'd shown the other quarian admirals. "This here is the Leviathan's bio engineered quantum entanglement communications receiver. We've yet to fully replicate it to the same power, but we think it is likely because of the enthrallment process. We theorize that the Leviathan is able to alter DNA through telepathic means, opening up ion channels across the body." She paused for a moment, seeing that many of the people surrounding this table were war time leaders, not scientific scholars. "Basically, we think Leviathan is able to internally over-clock whatever it enthralls, allowing their tissue to produce more renewable energy than our own biological systems are capable of." The holo switched again to a small cylindrical tube filled with an orange liquid. This caught Shepards eye right away along with Garrus's, it looked very similar to the unknown liquid found with the human reaper through the omega four relay. 

"Tali, you've seen this before." Shepard couldn't help but speak on the topic.

"Yes, Shepard. This liquid is very similar to what we saw at the collector base. The difference is, thanks to the enthrallment process, where the reapers needed tens of thousands of humans to produce enough to power a reaper. We theorize with the enthrallment, it would take less than 10." Silence fell over the conference room, and Tali took the opportunity to switch the hologram again, "What the quarian's scientists have been working on is replicating the hardware used to house this bio-fuel and to use the receiver schematics that I obtained on Zorya to create an ability to communicate with our home worlds based on the small communications networks used in broadcasting."

"How far along is your research?" The matriarch asked as she inspected the schematic on holo.

"We should have it testable before the rachnni return from the homeworlds." Shaala Raan was the one to answer this time, beating Tali to the response.

"Then we'd like to assist you the best we can. Right now many of our scientists are focused on the relay's repairs, but I view this as a more important endeavor." Shepard wasn't surprised it was the matriarch that was so quick to bite and jump on the quarian's coat tails. She'd pretty much shot herself in the foot with Wrex and Victus by not taking this talks serious enough and now she likely saw good relations with the quarians given their trump card as the only option left to ensure she doesn't screw this up for her people. 

"Thank you matriarch, but the quarian science team has more than enough hands on this. We still view the relay's repair as a necessity. The ability to communicate with our homeworlds is one thing, but the need to be able to physically return is even greater." It was as gentle as Raan could be in saying not a snow balls chance in hell. She was already concerned at the reaction the admiralty board was going to have on them playing their trump card early. 

"I see." Lidanya's response was short and simple before she looked back to Hackett. "What can the asari do to assist in this matter Admiral? We're still providing biotic assistance at the relay near Pluto, but our commandos would be a benefit to security checks near the planet." 

A victorious smile came across Hacketts face, "Thank you matriarch, I'm sure we can figure something out with your commandos in service to the relay's security and the search for these artifacts." He could see the asari clench her jaw line tightly as she nodded in agreement. "I'll expect a current commando roster on those individuals you deem capable of this assignment within the hour." He cleared his throat before addressing the rest of the room again. "The final order of business is tied to what we discussed last week. There is no better time than now as this galaxy faces yet another threat that impacts each of us together. We must decide the structure of a new galactic council."


	49. Tuchanka: Step 3

"You look stressed Bakara." The Urdnot Shaman handed her a cup containing a warm milky looking substance. For over a week now she hasn't heard any new information on Wrex's status and with each passing day she could feel Clan Urdnot position of power here on Tuchanka weakening. Truth be told, the clan had put forth the largest percentage of its population towards the assault on Earth to ensure not only victory for the galaxy but victory for clan Urdnot as well. That fact alone was becoming more and more apparent as other clans began arriving at Urdnot. Currently, she knew of no serious plans to over throw the city for power but that didn't mean much in krogan culture. Often times bloody fights can develop into sudden death matches over much less than power of Tuchanka. Wrex had laid the ground work in uniting the clans, but has yet to be formally seen as the leader of the krogan in every clans eyes.

Bakara smiled to the old shaman, "Sorry, it's been a late night." She accepted the old worn down cup with both hands. 

"No need to apologize to me, your secret is safe. I don't wish to see further fighting on this planet between clans anymore than you do." They were currently in one of the side rooms of the starport building. A roasting fire pit sat as a communal eating area between them, the coals of which were barely warm at this point. 

"How much longer do you think we have til the other clans start to move in on Urdnot territories?" Bakara hesitantly asked. Over the last week or so the Urdnot shaman had been more than helpful with speaking with other clans leaders and shaman and has been an instrumental part of the peace they still maintained. The concerning fact though was krogan history was built around survival of the fittest and the first sign of weakness was often acted upon as soon as it appeared. 

"Wrex's plan to take the majority of Urdnot's warriors to Palaven and Earth was a good one in the long run. He knows that titles and legendary actions mean the most in our society, so the fact that clan Urdnot is currently seen by other clans as a force of power unlike any of which they can match is holding them off for now." He looked up from his cup across the pit to Bakara. "I wouldn't worry, for now. Wrex has brought this clan more respect and power of the past few years that it won't be dismantled over a weeks time."

"I feel like for the first time in a thousand years the krogan have a bright future ahead of them and I will do anything it takes to ensure we have that chance. If worry and meticulous calculation is what that takes, I will continue to do so." A fierce determination flared in her eyes. The shaman just smiled at her answer, he was thankful that he was living to see this transformation of his people. 

"When Wrex first brought his idea's up three years ago after returning to Tuchanka after years of mercenary work, he was laughed out of the old war-chiefs quarters. It did nothing but push him though, slowly he garnered respect and crushed those who dared to think otherwise. His accomplishments in curing the genophage and defeating the reapers have solidified him among even his least likely allies as a krogan of power and one not to be stood up against. That fear alone will keep other clans from speaking up for quite some time." He kept his voice low, although they were technically in the heart of Urdnot territory, he made it a habit to not express his ideas too openly.

Bakara just nodded in response, letting silence set in for a few seconds before moving on to her next topic, "Did you check out clan Nakmor's situation?"

"I did. Without exposing myself to their territory, much of what Karh says matches with what other clans in the area have experienced. It would seem any krogan who ventures too close to Nakmor terrirtory isn't heard from again. Since this so called disease isn't something we can shoot with a gun, much of our fellow krogan have drawn various stories from Kalos's revenge against the krogan for her injuries against the reaper to a side effect from the cure and that this mental disease was engineered by the turians as another way to control our people." The shaman finished off his drink and sat the cup near the warm coals.

"Unfortunate. Karh has kept pretty much to himself since getting set in here in Urdnot, only really venturing out to inquire about Wrex's status. In all reality, his stories line up and I shouldn't be concerned but something just doesn't feel right." She averted her eyes and stared at the coals increasing her grip on her steel cup. 

"I've sent for a friend of mine from Clan Jorgal. He recently retired as shaman of that clan, shortly before the reaper invasion and is focusing his efforts on medicine. He has always been interested in biology and his work against the genophage yielded his clan one of the most successful breeding lines."

"I'm well aware, many of the females now in Urdnot were from Clan Jorgal." She cut him off, wanting to skip the history lesson that she knew he was often fond of giving.

"I hope when he arrives, he'll be able to shed some light on this illness and meet with Nakmor Karh himself."

"I'm sure he'll agree to that." A smile came across her face, "It's exciting to think we may soon enough have our own science division among our people. Krogan may once again after a thousand years look to knowledge instead of brute force for their answers."  
The shaman stood up, preparing to leave, "I hope that idealism never dies Bakara. You must excuse me though, many other krogan to see before the moon gets too high."

Bakara nodded towards him, "Thank you again." Her thoughts returned to Nakmor Karh once again. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the old krogan and this whole situation. Once upon a time, she may of thought along the same lines as her fellow krogan and been concerned that the turian's or Shepard had sabotaged the cure but none of that felt right. "What would you do, Wrex." She whispered to herself before it hit her. She knew what she had to do and once she was sure the shaman had left for good, she snuffed the last of the life in the coals with the drink she never touched and headed out.


	50. Liavik

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
> 
> I'm curious what people are most interested in reading, in regards to the various story lines and character development. Due to this, if people comment before I post a new chapter with what story line/character they hope the next chapter is about, I may make an effort to post the next chapter based on that. Obviously I wont spam one characters chapters constantly, but I want to know what people are interested in :). Thank you all SO much again for making it this far with me and this story. You're support and comments keep this going and keep me inspired!
> 
> -This applies to ALL current chapters :) (Just didn't want the note on every page)

"Javik." He could hear Liara's voice outside the small room he'd made into his own in the research facility on Mars and moment later he heard the door hiss open. "Will you please come help me decipher this encryption? You're capable of learning the same encryption knowledge that I have in a matter of seconds. It would make this process go so much faster."

"I've told you before, asari, I will not assist in reactivating an AI." Javik had chosen one of the smallest rooms in the facility, likely because it was underground and slightly more humid than the other areas. The room itself had the bare minimum for furnishings, and if it wasn't for Feron's insistence, it likely wouldn't even have a bed. Let alone the single memory shard and stand on the desk next to the computer. 

Liara moved towards the desk where he sat. He could see bags under her eyes and her skin's normal shade of blue looked faded in her face. She was obviously exhausted and had been neglecting her own daily heathcare, which did nothing but annoy him further. 

"Javik, please. We wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for EDI's actions and it would take months for Feron to obtain my level of knowledge in encrypting data." He could tell she was desperate but his expression remained solid with all four eyes focused on her.

"I will not say it again." He looked back to the computer's holo screen. It wasn't as if he was doing anything of any importance. In fact for past few days he'd done nothing but research various cultures of this galaxy. Having already a comfortable grasp on Asari customs and their chameleon like culture, he was currently focus'ed on hannar beliefs. Surprisingly they were thus far the most similar to prothean religious teaching. Personally, he'd never believed in any of the religious propaganda that made its way through his people, but he knew of it. 

Liara on the other hand was at a loss. At this rate to be honest it would take her months to finish this encryption without the key and this was far too sensitive of a topic to involve any of her agents. She bit the inside of her cheek to calm herself down as the anger welled up inside of her. She didn't possess the poise and diplomacy that Shepard had when it came to the prothean, likely because in his eyes only a soldier could understand a soldier. She was espionage at best, if it wasn't for her biotics and intelligence she likely would never of made it on Shepard's elite team. "Shepard is awake by the way, on Earth."

"Oh?" Javik didn't look to the asari, instead he maintained reading the hannar information infront of him. "Good for her."

Liara frowned, he didn't care? She was literally the only person he confided in. Literally the only one to ever see his memory shard that he held so near, so why was he so indifferent about her now? "You don't care?"

This time he stopped reading and looked up to her, "Should I?"

That was it, Liara lost it, her voice gained at least an octave. She was exhausted and sick of playing these games with him. "Why wouldn't you care?!" She shot her hand out towards his memory shard, "You cared enough to show her your people's memory shard! You confided in her with all your fears! She was your friend! Don't you wish to see her? Aren't you happy to hear she's alive and awake?!"

Javik stood, half out of habit when confronted with a threat as a self defense. "She was my leader, my commander." His voice was now raised, "I trusted my life to her and she was also the person who allowed me to achieve something the entire population of my people were incapable of!" He grabbed Liara's wrist with the speed of a trained soldier and moved it to the shard. He watched her eyes be consumed by blackness as she viewed the images of his last moments with his people and the moments that mattered to the dozens of soldiers before him. The pain and sorrow of watching their comrades die by the hundreds and the feelings of knowing that you will reproduce to bring children into a dieing world only to know they are alive and cared for to grow up to have to fight for their lives at all times. He watched tears begin to pool in the corners of her blackened eyes as her grip on the shard tightened. 

Minutes later the blackness drained from around her pupils and she was returned to reality. She still held the shard in her hand and focused on prothean in front of her and he could see the lines of pity begin to etch across her face. "Javik, I..."

"Don't." He held out his hand and she immediately gently placed the shard into it. She could see the anger along his jaw line and even his posture was aggressive in the way he held his shoulders and chest. She watched him set the shard carefully back onto it's stand and exhail, dropping his shoulders a bit. That was when it happened, he caught her completely off guard when he swiftly turned and grabbed her chin. He was taller than her, though before this moment, she never took that into account how small she really was when face with this powerful of a man. He leaned in slowly, letting the shock in her eyes settle before she watched all four of his eyes close and she could feel his lips on hers. Her body reacted before her mind did, it melted beneath his kiss and she could feel desire begin to well up inside of her. It took nothing but a moment of that soft receiving melt, before her desire took over. She pushed back into the kiss, pouring her suppressed desires and passion into the kiss. 

He didn't bother to open his eyes, he'd read enough about her culture to know at this point that blackness was returning to her eyes. Instead he moved his arms to the back of her thighs, picking her up. She was light, even lighter than he'd imagined. Her slender beautiful figure did her no justice to the connection he could feel right now. The asari called it 'embracing eternity' but that did it no justice. He was bewildered at how any other species in this galaxy could ever have this experience and be sane afterwards, he felt her all throughout his body. Even as he carried her, still maintaining his kiss over to the bed, he barely could feel her arms wrap around him. His mind was gently being caressed by what he could only describe as her essence. 

Liara had shared this experience with few others in her hundred years, but this was completely different. Where she felt powerful and overwhelming to others, even of her own species, she now felt that she was barely making any headway into Javik's mind. He met her desire with equal passion, where she attempted to embrace him as a whole, he swelled to surround her. Protecting and guiding her being. She could feel his hands searching her physical body, while his mind lapped at every corner of her deepest desires. Her secrets were exposed, her thoughts opened, and her desires raided. He could see every hidden pleasure she'd never shared and every secret desire she didn't know she had. What was worse, he was acting them out in the real world piece by piece and little did she know, he planned to continue til each one had been fulfilled.


	51. Javik's Plan

The night had been much more physically involved than Javik had originally planned for. He definitely didn't plan for the asari to be asleep a few feet away from him for the last few hours or the fact he desired to join her once again. He was surprised at the amount of desire he'd come to feel for the asari and how much of that desire she was able to bring to the surface. He was further impressed with the fact the asari's capability to challenge even a prothean's empathetic psychometry was a further evolutionary marvel. His civilization was built around the idea of the galactic imperative that survival of the fittest was the only true expression of evolution. When he looked at the sleeping asari, he saw nothing but this universe's evolutionary success. Never did he imagine a future with another creature in this galaxy after he'd awoken to yet another reaper invasion. He missed his own people dearly, finding the majority of what this galaxy offered as a pointless expression of primitive civilization. There was even a time where he had considered going back to Eden Prime and dieing with the rest of his brothers and sisters, but all that now seemed like a far off memory of what could of been. 

It was nearing morning and a full week had passed since the Normandy had returned to this system, meaning Leviathan's plans were likely in motion. He tabbed through the various reports and cultural studies until reaching the data Liara had stopped compiling once the whole EDI resurrection process had started. It sickened him that she'd been consumed by the revival of an AI instead of facing the real threat in Leviathan. She likely believed EDI could help in the future battle against such a creature as she did against the reapers, but even if she could, he knew this would open a door that the galaxy finally managed to close and if history was known to do anything, it was repeat itself. 

Even in the short time she'd worked on the idea of mental immunity against the Leviathan threat, she'd managed to compile much more knowledge than she'd listed in her physical data. He'd be lieing if he said he only shared his thoughts and mind with her for a sexual attraction. He'd discovered the pureblood asari ability to meld mind and force information that once laid dormant to the surface was used in extreme cases in Justicar interrogations and he knew the easiest way he was going to connect with the young asari was through a melding. After all was said and done, he enjoyed the experience thoroughly but he'd also obtained the information on the asari's mental capabilities that he had hoped for, along with the information he needed to ensure EDI wouldn't be activated again. 

Javik believed the young asari was on the right track in regards to an immunity against Leviathan or in the very least the ability to fight back against indoctrination. He also now supported her idea that hundreds of thousands of years ago the sentient species in this galaxy likely all possessed some telepathic ability that has been deluded down to limited use in the current age. Should this galaxy of been cleansed and the reaper cycle completed, he wasn't sure another even lesser species would of possessed it. The asari, while a reproductive marvel in evolution standing, were limited even among their own people in their mental manipulation abilities. 

Since he had found writing to be a primitive form of communication, he decided against recording his thoughts and her findings on anything physically tangible, instead he made a new entry in the memory shard. He wasn't sure if he'd ever do such a thing, the shard had symbolized his people's history and was the last remaining icon that he had to remember his comrades by, but he decided he would build a future in this galaxy should they defeat the reapers and now was just the begining of ensuring this galaxy does not repeat its synthetic mistakes. The process of encoding information was simple enough for him onto the shard, he stored not only EDI's location and encryption data as the last known reminisce of an AI but also he noted the Leviathan's presence and capabilities. He never intended for this shard to be a warning beacon or a diary but this is what was important to him now and what he found to be worth noting. 

"Javik." He heard the whisper of his name as he sat the shard back down on it's stand before glancing to the naked asari on his bed. Her eyes were the vibrant blue once again and for the life of him he couldn't find a flaw on any part of her body. "What time is it?"

He stood from his chair, moving over to her. He'd dressed long ago and handed her things over to her to do the same. "Close to sunrise." The warm smile that came across her face was far more innocent than he knew she was capable of, but it reflected her joy in this moment. 

"I guess I was more tired than I had realized." She took her clothes and stood to dress. She was in no way bashful or shy about her appearance, very few asari were as their physic was reflective to those looking upon them. She was however at a loss where to go from here though. Javik had been staying with her on Mars for lack of other options. She knew he didn't wish to return to Earth and heading to another home world was out of the option at the time being. "Hungry?"

Javik couldn't help himself. Truth be told he purposefully hadn't shared his eating habits with many people due to distrust. He'd joke about salarian livers and turian hearts but in reality his species thrived on aquatic foods. His system and skin required higher amounts of moisture and oils in their diets and often times he'd found it hard to obtain these things while on the Normandy. The eels in Shepard's cabin had been his last resort should the need truly arrive, but here on Mars, water was scarce and the planet was so dry that his skin had begun to itch and dry in the last few days. "I am." He responded, un-shamefully watching her dress.

"Feron successfully acquired some Prejek Fish a couple days ago. I was going to use it as a bribing card in hopes you'd assist in this decryption or encase you actually would ever volunteer the information that you loved to eat aquatic things." Liara had finished dressing and began to head out the door. "I'm excited to see you cook."

"Cook?" Javik followed after, smirking. She likely hadn't known before last night for sure that he'd love fish, but he was impressed her research had at least lead her up to this point. He eye'd the memory shard before leaving, reminding himself of what he really needed to accomplish today.


	52. Enlisted Once Again

The debates over a new council structure had not gone quite as planned in admiral Hackett's eyes. Between the krogan demanding that the salarians pay tribute for their actions in this war through blood and galactic territories to the asari matriarch refusing to relinquish control of the citadel itself to any other species, the meeting had continued on for a little under five hours. News reporters and journalists that had been camped outside for much of the duration were just now clearing out after many of the foreign leaders were escorted off the premises. Hackett, Shepard and Garrus were the only remaining members still in the meeting room. 

"Congratulations by the way on your recovery." Hackett remained in his seat from the council meeting, only visibly more relaxed and allowing himself to sit back in his chair. 

"Thank you, sir." Shepard responded as directly and formal as such a statement could be. This was one of the only time Garrus had gotten to watch her interactions with her commanding officer. It was at times difficult to remember that she wasn't always the one calling the shots and that she actually reported to a superior. 

"Miranda's report suggests you should be fit for combat in less than a month?" Hackett watched her and Garrus carefully. With the galactic politics still unstable and the Leviathan threat becoming more and more real, Hackett counted it a miracle that Shepard's medical report showed such promising signs of recovery. He also hoped Shepard would continue to play a key role in shaping this future she'd fought so hard to achieve. 

"That is correct." Shepard on the other hand didn't feel that recovery in many ways. Her mental state was still scarred from recent events and physically she still couldn't walk very long without debilitating fatigue. She didn't have to turn to Garrus to know he wasn't amused by Hackett's line of questioning, especially since just earlier that day he had spent most of the day his time researching tropical beaches. Truth be told though, it made her smile; for all the time she'd known the turian, rarely did she ever see him desire to relax. She admired his drive and his convictions and in her darkest hours she remembered his determination and it inspired her. So to see him want to relax, warmed her heart and as he'd followed her into hell, she wanted to return the favor in following him into retirement. 

Hackett close his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Shepard, I'm going to be direct." He opened his eyes and folded his hands on the table, "As you know, this war took thousands of lives and countless amounts of credits. Earth alone lost a little over 60% of its estimated population and the alliance military." He glanced to Garrus as he reconsidered sharing exact statistics, "lost a significant amount of manpower as well. What you have shown that you are capable of can make up for that. I need you to be part of this Leviathan investigation. Not only do you know the most about the creatures, but your connections and abilities alone make you an invaluable asset."

Garrus could feel his jaw tighten along with his grip on her wheelchair. Had she not done enough? Over the last year he'd watch the one person in this galaxy he respected and loved more than anyone else put her life on the line time and time again, only to achieve the impossible. He'd lost count of the nights as the war came to its end that he'd prayed to the spirits to keep her safe and now that she'd once again survived against all odds, he'd be damned if he'd let anyone gamble with her life now.   
"Yes, sir." She brought up her hand, saluting the admiral before Garrus could react. What was one more mission? Shepard felt as if she was on auto pilot, her mind felt far away as she listened to the Admirals proposal. She was conflicted, her own selfish personal desires meant little more than a life with Garrus on some far off planet but a small part of her sparked in the familiarity of war. War in one form or another had been her life since she could remember and in a twisted way it felt safe. The idea of retirement felt exciting and warm but the fear of change nibbled at her thoughts. Could she adjust to civilian life? Would her life with Garrus be everything she'd hoped? Bits and pieces of her feared for her future outside of the military. If she was on assignment though, she wouldn't have to relive those moments in London or watch those around her grieve for the billions lost. 

The admiral felt a wave of relief come over him as Shepard agreed to the proposal. While he cared for Shepard and wanted her to be happy, he also had to consider the thousands of lives she could save alone. He had feared she'd resign from active duty and worried at the extent of aid he would be able to offer against the Leviathans. "For the time being, rest and recover commander. I suspect Leviathan's plans are already underway elsewhere, outside of our current reach. This should give you plenty of time to recover and undergo Miranda's gene therapy treatments." He looked to the turian still standing behind her, "I look forward to our continued co-operation as I'm sure the primarch has plans for you as well." 

Shepard barely had time to nod in response, let alone salute the admiral before she could feel her chair being turned around to the door. Garrus was struggling to remain quiet at this point. He could feel an itch under his plates as the human admiral adressed him, though technically he had no business being here as anything but Shepard's caregiver and assumed he was allowed to stay thanks to Victus and the fact he was part of Shepard's team. Solely out of respect for the woman he cared deeply for, he didn't slam the admiral against the far wall for even suggesting Shepard continue her service in her state. Even the primarch of his people didn't push his favored commanders to these limites, which suggested the human admiral was in a worse situation than he had let on. The doors slid closed behind the two of them as Garrus pushed her chair down the long hallway.

"No lecture?" Shepard tilted her head back to look up at him.

"Since when have I ever lectured you?" She could hear the anger in his voice even under his pitiful attempt to mask it with a grin.

She brought her head back forward, "One more mission won't hurt, besides the last time you were given a long period of freedom you became bat-man."

"Bat-man?" He stopped the chair at the elevator, moving to push the down button. "Is that another human idiom?"

"Well, I know what we're doing tonight." She opened the interface to her omnitool, searching through available vids. Garrus watched over her shoulder as various entries scrolled through by the dozens as he pushed the chair into the elevator.   
"What exactly is a bat first off?"

Shepard chuckled as she continued to flip through the entries, "A small creature that flies."

"and humans can mate with them?" Slightly disturbed and almost afraid to ask. 

This time she laughed, "No! You'll see, I promise it wont be anything you'll dislike..." She paused for a moment waiting for the elevator doors to shut before she lowered her voice, "I am the night. I am Archangel."


	53. Good Night Bakara

The lights in the star port were dim as only the remembrance of coals lit the fire pits, thankfully krogan had little issues with the dark. Their eyes were naturally better than many of the other sentient species in the galaxy, allowing Bakara little trouble in navigating her way through the cluttered sleeping areas. She had given Nakmor Karh a private quarter upon his request as a guest to Urdnot. At the time she didn't think much of it, he didn't have any clan mates to be next to in the larger sleeping areas and of the other krogan he knew he seemed distant. All of this made perfect sense a week ago, he had lost his ru'shan by his own hand and she couldn't imagine the pain he had went through in that moment, especially as she thought of her own clutch's future; but now her instinct couldn't make sense of any of it. She had convinced herself she felt wrong about the man and his whole situation but out of respect she hadn't pushed the subject. His private quarters were just ahead at this point and locks rarely worked on Tuchanka to begin with. Even new ones got dirt and derbies cluttered in them within a few months time and many of the facilities forgone repairs on such things. She knew the door to the quarters she had given him had fallen under the same lack of maintenance. She took a breath with her hand on the door's control panel before pressing it open. 

The door popped open before slowly sliding the rest of the way, yielding a room that looked like many of the other in Urdnot. The floor was partly torn up exposing some of the dirt and earth under the long un-cared for concrete while the coals were long burnt out in the wall lights and the broken apart bed against the adjacent wall was empty. It's not as if krogan were known for their ability to personalize or artistically express their selves in their own quarters, but she did expect to see a little more than the storage case that she'd seen earlier. She entered the room, closing the door behind her and took a deep breath, the room still smelled strongly of the Nakmor clan member. This fact gave Bakara some relief, while she had been determined to investigate her hunch through any means necessary, this did allow for some deniability should it come to that. She cautiously walked over to the beaten up case laying next to the bed and flipped the latch open on it's side. The contents were somewhat surprising to her, various small circular containers littered the inside of the case. The containers themselves weren't see through and were only about the size of her palm. "There must be a few dozen of these in here." They were heavier than they looked and the containers themselves felt more like sleeves than a hardened casing. She carefully slipped the sleeve off, revealing a small blue circular orb. It wasn't see through necessarily, but colors moved inside the glass like structure as she rotated it in her hand. "What are these?" She thought to herself as a dull pain began to tickle the back of her mind. She instinctively moved her free hand to the back of her neck under the head crest on her clothes. Physically it was one of the most vulnerable places a krogan had and Bakara was a stranger to the concept of a headache. Her vision slowly began to blur as the dulling pain spread upwards and within seconds her mind emptied and a cold black void was all that awaited her. 

The next morning came and the Urdnot Shaman found himself welcoming a dear friend of his into the city. "Took you long enough," He smiled to the krogan exiting the tomkah just within the city limits. The old krogan laughed walking towards the shaman holding his arm out in greeting. The shaman was more than happy to grab his old friend's forarm, pulling him inward in an embrace. "It's good to see you Jorgal Prax!" 

The old krogan from Jorgal smiled, baring a mouth of partly jagged teeth, "You would remember my name from before I became Shaman." He looked around to the broken city in front of him, "Urdnot has grown since I last was here." 

"It has under Wrex's leadership." The shaman turned to face the city as well. 

"That pup has done the unimaginable, the ancients would be proud." He turned his head to face the shaman, "Lets get inside, the Tomkah ride was smooth enough, time to stretch my legs and you can tell me all about this disease clan Nakmor is facing." Jorgal Prax was much more alive than the Urdnot shaman had remembered of his friend, it made him wonder if once he was able to retire from his place as shaman if he too would see a new filled light outside the service of the ancients of the void. The rites shaman undergo even on a daily basis take their tole but ensure their afterlife and those under their influence will have meaning in the void itself but at times they would be challenging and rigorous. He had known many shaman never to reach retirement, their souls taken early by the void and never promised to the ancients. He followed after his friend, attempting to explain and relay the information Nakmor Karh had told them a week before. 

"What are Wrex's plans on the matter?" It had taken nearly the whole trip through the city to explain everything the shaman knew about the Nakmore situation alone and hadn't yet had time to fill him in on Wrex's absence. 

"Bakara is leading Urdnot in Wrex's stead. He still has not returned from the final fight with the reapers." They had headed to one of the communal eating areas just outside the starport and warlords territory. 

"A female?" Prax wasn't overly surprised, he for saw changes in Tuchanka as a good thing over all, especially having come from the clan with the most successful pregnancies during the genophage, he knew the value and intelligence the females of their species could offer given the opportunity. The genophage had done nothing but make them treasures to be guarded, especially the fertile ones. The non-fertile though were seen as nothing more than useless weak additions to the race, which often times lead to suicides or reckless career choices along with societal shunning. He pitied many of the females on Tuchanka so to see one rise up as second to Urdnot Wrex and go so far as to be the only reason the cure was possible, was an amazing step for the females as a whole. "Where is this Nakmor Karh, I'd like to meet with him personally."

"His quarters are just inside the starport. Bakara should be meeting us here shortly and we can head over together." The shaman kept walking past the fire pit. "For the time being, let us head to see Urdnot Fortack, I think you'll enjoy the lab Wrex had set up for him while we wait for Bakara."


	54. Not Everyone Loves Fish

"Well?" Liara was rather pleased with herself in aquiring the fish for Javik. Originally she had planned to use it as a bartering piece in convincing him to assist her in the decryption of EDI's software but after last night the plan didn't seem nearly as necessary. The kitchen in the research facility was small and rather basic, but Feron did go out of his way to make sure the contents were worthy of Liara's skill set. The four bright blue fillet's were laid out on the main kitchen counter and Liara was smiling ear to ear in her pride. 

Javik couldn't help but smirk at her attempts to please him, to be honest he couldn't help but be pleased with the fact the young asari was pushing so hard for his approval. He moved over next to her in the kitchen to get a better look, "Adequate." He reached out to grab one of the fillets holding it above his head and opening his mouth. He watched Liara's eyes get larger and a look of surprise come across her face and sat the fillet back down on the counter, "That was a joke." He gave her a smug look as a somewhat forced smile came across her face. In that moment though, it had occurred to him that he hadn't really cooked anything in this cycle, his meals aboard the Normandy had been prepared ahead of time and aside from watching Vega cook with the primitive cookware, he had no experience with doing so. "Asari, show me how you would prepare these in this cycle." 

Liara was a little taken back and couldn't help but notice the overall change in Javik's demeanor. He seemed more full of himself and his posturing seemed to have doubled over night. She glanced down at the fish and back to him before responding, "No. I think it'll be much more entertaining to see how the great prothean would do it." Many could describe Liara as kind and thoughtful, some would even say powerful and intelligent, but only a few got to see the relentless determination and overwhelming presence that she was capable of. Becoming the shadowbroker did nothing but bring that side of her to surface, to command as much respect and loyalty as the shadowbroker did, she had to show she had a side that many should fear to see. 

Javik watched as the aura surrounding her completely changed into something far more demanding, but to back down to one so primitive as her was unacceptable. He picked up the fillet again, this time following through with his original joke and swallowing the piece whole. Prothean digestive systems were second to none in his cycle in their ability to adapt to new foods, a trait that had become usefully in colonizing new worlds across the galaxy in the 50,000 years of his species rule. The acids and bacteria in a prothean stomach were designed to mutate and change as necessary for foreign foods, while poison was possible, it was rare and often times not able to be produced naturally. While he honestly would of preferred the fish to be cooked, the satisfaction behind the action was worth the bitter slimy texture. 

Liara raised just a single eyebrow in watching Javik this time, "Fascinating, well I'll leave you to it then. I have things to take care of. Calls to return. Make yourself at home. I've said that before, but I'll say it again. My home is your home, for the time being." Liara gave her omnitool a quick glance, before exiting the kitchen and heading towards her shadowbroker office.

"I should of asked for Hannar liver, would you of gotten that had she asked?" Javik asked looked at the fish.

"Incredible. Dr. T'soni had said the prothean's senses were highly evolved," Feron stepped out around the far corner cabinet that lead into another archway to an adjacent eating area. "I'm curious, what gave me away?"

"Drell have a certain smell about them, I've come to realize." He looked to the young drell across the room. "In my cycle, I had never met a drell even then your species was considered rare. What do you want?"

"For you to leave Dr. T'soni and this base." Feron kept his distance for the time being.

"Not enjoying the company of a superior species?" 

"I've lived and served in espionage too long. I've learned to listen to the goddess's voice that guides my intuition and it tells me not to trust you." Feron's posture remained sturdy and strong.

"Interesting." Javik moved to leave the kitchen, stopping in the same doorway that Liara had just left through, "Too bad it means nothing."

"For now." Javik barely heard Feron's reply as he headed back down to his personal chambers. He'd give the asari privacy for now and head into the shadowbrokers room later in the evening. For now his plan was to write out his own version of EDI's decryption key using the knowledge he'd seen in Liara's consciousness.


	55. The Waiting Game

"T'soni, I've a favor to ask." Garrus's voice couldn't of been more clear through her omnitool as she sat down in front of the wall of monitors. Feron had prepared this room far in advance for her return and it still surprised her somewhat that he never gave up on her surviving the push in London, let alone finding her way back to the Sol System after the Normandy was declared MIA.

"Garrus?" Truth be told she had been so consumed by EDI's repairs over the last week that she'd neglected to contact any of the Normandy crew since they had arrived back in the system.

"The one and only. Do you have your shadowbroker contacts up and running yet?" He sounded as smug as ever. 

"Feron had a lot of it set up here on Mars before we'd even arrived back into the system and I have some agents and contacts established, but obviously I dont extend outside of the system. It's more been recording and information brokering through transmissions as of late." Liara pulled up her couple agents that she had stationed on Earth. "What do you need? How is Shepard by the way? I heard she was out of the hostpital."

"She's doing well, we finished meeting with Hackett and the other war time leaders in regards to future plans. But my favor has more to do with the Leviathan threat and a personal request of my Primarch."

"Oh, you're moving up in the world I see. You pushing for Primarch?" Liara smiled as she pulled up the pluto station relay repair security feeds.

She could only hear his half hearten laugh in response before the solid no.

"Then I assume it has something to do with the missing turian supply vessel?" She prodded again.

There was a brief pause before Garrus responded, "I wonder at what point that know it all stuff will get creepy... But yes, Victus lost contact with a supply vestle containing a Leviathan artifact and I've been tasked to task you with finding it, since he thinks we have such a good working relationship." He could hear Liara laugh on the other end of the transmission.

"I'll send you to information I have on the current location, though it's been abandoned for some time a little past the Sol relay. I had assumed Leviathan would likely begin its set up around the system, so I've had agents on the look out for their artifacts for a few days now." Liara paused for a bit, deciding not to relay the information about EDI quite yet until she was sure it was actually something worth giving hope for. 

"Thanks T'soni. I'll owe ya one and Shepard says to tell you hello, or at least she would if she wasn't asleep." 

Liara giggled in response, "Before I forget, I've come across various information EDI had forwarded from the Cerberus base after our assault there. I don't want to go into details on how it all survived, but some of the information may prove useful in repairing the relays. I figured I'd give you the oppertunity to forward it to Admiral Hackett."

"Trying to push this turian/human alliance even further, T'soni?"

Liara smiled while leaning back into her chair, "I play for the end game, you know that." She ended the communication link and forwarded the information. It took almost no time for her to bring up EDI's encryption data again and begin work on it.  
Unfortunately, even with all the hours she'd poured into the decryption, she was maybe 10% of the way complete. It was a daunting task, but she wasn't needed for anything else right now. Much of the information brokering took place through tapped communications and Feron handled much of that. To be honest, she needed the receiver that the quarian flottilla was working on to be up and running ASAP and unfortunately for her the couple quarians that she once had as agents were MIA or KIA during the reaper war. This meant really nothing more than having to acquire new ones and she had that plan already underway. With the alliance with the Geth secured before their destruction, the quarians were already relying on them once again for their livelihood and the repairs of Rannoch itself. Unfortunately they were destroyed after the crucible was fired, but once again EDI's information from the Cerberus base may prove useful in re-establishing the Geth AI should they choose to do so. This information could easily be traded to the right person for the schematics on the Leviathan receiver, so she pushed for Feron to set up a meeting with Admiral Zen on behalf of the shadowbroker. 

Hours passed between the careful checking and double checking of EDI's AI decryption. The process was slow and tedious, which left Liara with nothing more than a head ache as the day passed by. She honestly had hoped Javik or Feron would of interrupted her at some point with something to break the monotony, but they seemed to have left her to her own devices. In the back ground she had been half watching the turians retrieve their lost supply vessel over the last hour, only to be sorely disappointed in the lack of artifact presence on board. Likely it had been dropped and moved multiple times by this point and until people started reporting odd behavior there would be little to no way to track where it could of gone. The artifacts themselves were decent size, but not big enough to be obvious on their location from any significant distance. The alliance was already underway in sweeping the relay repair facility for any unaccounted for cargo and many of the engineers were beginning psych evaluations today a well. It seemed everyone was playing the waiting game for the time being, which allowed Liara some comfort in taking the time to work on EDI's revival.


	56. Let Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Electrica_Sama for reminding me about poor Cortez and James's death. Not quite sure how that got forgotten over the chapters but thank you for looking out for the guy!

Over the last week Cortez had been put through the ringer, between the debriefings and temporary housing he was well beyond taxed. Tonight, he finally managed to secure a semi permanent residence just within the Vancouver city limits. To be honest, he was waiting to return to Ferris Feilds. Over the last year he had told himself he never would, and that he would put that part of him far behind him, but as he laid alone in the studio apartment those thoughts seemed like distance dreams. He hadn't let himself grieve for Vega since Zorya, instead he had held it together and shut his pain deep inside himself. When his husband had been taken by the Collectors he felt numb inside for such a long time that returning to that state after his friends death was easier than it should of been. It felt like a childhood blanket, familiar and pain free, but just as with Robert, the blanket slowly dissolves away with time. He wanted to badly to be happy, he kept chasing the idea of closure to this whole reaper war and now that it was here: he was faced with the cruel reality that it seemed that everyone he learns to care for... leave. 

It was so late as he laid in the single sized bed looking up at the recently plastered ceiling and he was so tired. "Please," Cortez whispered to himself, "Please just let me sleep." He clenched his eyes closed tightly as his face contorted showing just how much pain he really was in. The tears welled at the corners of his eyes and he let them run. Why didn't he push to take Ashley and James to the site? Why did he think he was doing his friend a favor? Why did he think the war would ever truly be over? He missed the numbness that he had felt just a week ago, when Ashley had been lost and struggling; he had remained calm and collected but now that was all gone. "What am I suppose to do?" He whispered again this time turning to his side and bringing his knees in. What was he suppose to do? He had made up his mind on Ferris Fields and that he would return as soon as the relay's were functional again but what was he suppose to do once he was there? For the longest time he has felt like he is just chasing to another step and wanting nothing more than to leave the moment. 

Almost two hours passed before he managed to exhaust his body into a mild sleep...

"Hey, handsome." A familiar but almost forgotten voice roused him from his sleep. The room smelled of pancakes and fresh orange slices and he could hear the sounds of chirping just outside his bedroom window. "You really going to sleep all day? C'mon, I even got up early and made breakfast." He could feel another body crawl into bed with him as he opened his eyes. The room was so familiar, it was Robert and his bedroom from years ago. The hologram on the far wall was even playing yet another Blasto film and he could feel an all too familiar hand snake around his waist. "Is it the Blasto movie? I can turn it off, I know it's not your favorite." He was home, a small part of him knew this was a dream but no part of him cared. He needed this and he would take what he could get as a smile came across his face. 

"No, leave it on." To be honest, he hated the whole franchise, but for whatever reason Robert had loved those stupid movies and far too many times did he complain to turn them off even though he knew how happy they made him. Moments like those were what he wished he could redo, those little things that everyone over looks up until the moment its too late to ever over look them again. He could feel his heart swell as he looked up to the man leaning over him smiling, it was Robert. It was his handsome loving husband and Cortez couldn't help himself as he swung his right arm over grabbing Robert's neck and pulling him into a kiss that he thought he'd never experience again. 

Robert laughed after his lips left Steven's mouth, "You're a lot more awake than I thought you were! I made breakfast. I know I know, you don't love pancakes, but it was all we had and I figured we should celebrate you being home for a change." That's right, Cortez remembered just how many times he wasn't home over those years. He couldn't remember it ever bothering Robert, but he knew it did deep down. 

"Pancakes are now my favorite food." Cortez said as he sat up continuing to stare at Robert's face. 

A confused smile soon came across it though, "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Cortez said nothing, instead just smiling as Robert awkwardly turned away grabbing his own plate on the night stand. "Oh! My favorite part's coming up!" He looked to the holo.

Cortez couldn't help himself, he missed Robert more than anything in the world and to have him here now like this, it was a miracle. He brought his hand up to Robert's cheek, turning his head towards his own. "I love you." 

Robert's face melted into a warm smile, "I love you too Steve, but you need to let go." Cortez could feel Robert's own hand grab his still on his cheek and squeeze tightly. "I will always love you and always be here with you, but let go." Cortez could hear his voice slowly begin to fade as the squeezing felt less and less real and back in reality he opened his still wet eyes to a dark minimally furnished studio yet again.


	57. Let The Pain Stop

"You really need to take better care of yourself diet wise, Jeff" Dr. Chakwas finished drawing the last of the blood test from the pilots arm. She had found herself working at the alliance central hospital for the time being. Many of the soldiers still needing treatment weren't human and the amount of knowledgeable doctors were in high demand since the end of the reaper war. 

"You saying my dad's diet of bourbon and cheese doesn't build strong bones?" Joker sat atop the exam bed in a small room on the 3rd floor of the hospital. 

Karin capped the blood draw before giving him a highly unamused look. "You're white blood cell count is at an all time low. You managed to make it through defeating the reapers, collectors and geth, but you're going to try to die to some brittle bone infection? What the hell is going on?" Karin's bed side manner could use some work to say the least. Since landing back on Earth, she had managed to get maybe 3 hours a sleep on average a night and had done more than 4 surgeries a day on various races that suffered various problems. She was taxed mentally and physically and in no mood for convincing a grown man who wasn't dying from some psychical wound to take his medication and eat right. 

Jokers eyes got at least a size larger in response to Karin's outburst, in all the years she'd served as his primary physician, never had he seen her lose her patience. "Well, uh..." He blinked a few times before the anger he'd been feeling nipping at his heart took hold, "You know what, maybe I'm eating like shit because I feel like shit. You sit there and lecture me about my diet but you know what? At least you have someone to go home to!"

If a human woman had hackles, Joker could of sworn they would of gone up like a hissing cat as the words left his mouth. "Home? What the hell is home? You think you're the only one who's lost their loved ones in this war? I see dozens of people every day who have lost literally everyone they knew and everything they owned. Many of them will lose their own lives before the month is out. You sit here with the ability to be healthy and the ability to move forward, thanks to your own actions and those of your own friends and what you want to do with that is squander it by killing yourself through neglect?!" She could feel her jaw tighten as she squeezed a fist around the vial of blood. "I know you lost EDI and your family and nothing I can say here today will bring them back or make you feel better about it, but you haven't lost your life or many of your friends."

"Friends?" Joker spat, "Friends like Shepard? I trusted her with everything I held dear and you know why EDI is gone? Because of Shepard." The words had barely left his mouth before his face stung hot. He had never seen a older woman move so quickly, or a hand be raised against him so hard. He looked to her in shock, but all he saw was the look of an angry mother bear. 

"How dare you doubt her." Karin then stood and left the room, slamming the door behind her. Joker just stared at the door in awe. It had happened so quickly that his mind was just now catching up with recent events. She wasn't wrong though, he had trusted in her through everything. Never doubting her and now he spoke her name with such venom and spite that he barely recognized himself anymore. 

He had gone to see Shepard a number of times over the last week, never able to commit to actually ringing a door bell or opening a hospital room door. He was terrified of the answers to his own questions and the only comfort he could find is in hating the idea of her actions. Over the last week he'd spent so much time drunk or asleep that it was no wonder he wasn't eating or taking his medications. He knew what it was doing to his body and part of him looked forward to the end result. "Sorry." He whispered to himself as he brought his head into his hands leaning forwards in the chair. 

Almost 10 minutes passed before the door to the examination room opened again, the head nurse Melanie walked in the room carrying a couple containers of pills. "Mr. Monroe, Dr. Chakwas has requested that you stay a couple nights here in the hospital to run a few more tests and get your cell counts back to normal." She sat the two small sample size containers of pills on the counter. "Please take both of these and then we will head to your room."

'Why am I here?' Joker thought to himself. 'I'm such a coward that as soon as i started to feel weak I got scared and came to the hospital, yet I was looking forward to the end?' He nodded to the nurse and swallowed both the pills. The nurse only smiled in response to his actions and instructed him to follow her. "Should I be concerned at what I just took?"

"No, though Dr. Chakwas did tell me to make sure you knew afterwards that one was a sedative and that she wishes you a good nights sleep." The room was only a short distance away and he complied hobbling into the bed. He was at such a mental loss, that he felt he was happy to just take orders and not think. Thankfully the drugs were fast acting and Joker didn't even remember seeing the nurse leave.


	58. Tuchanka's Infection

"Wrex had you set all this up?" Prax was well beyond impressed at the state of Urdnot Fortack's laboratory but Fortack himself didn't share in his enthusiasm. 

"Unfortunately." Fortack replied looking around his lab once again, "When Wrex took over as warlord here he had me cease weapons research and push for more so called civilized research in engineering for the krogan." 

The Urdnot shaman just smiled, "It'll be a better future for us, believe it or not Fortack." 

"Well I think its quite remarkable." Prax made his way to some of the instruments strung out across the room, seeing if anything here matched or surpased what clan Jorgal currently had. 

"I follow what my clan leader requires of me, though my opinion on the matter still follows Wreavs beliefs. Krogan were made for war, it's in our blood and watering that down accomplishes nothing but breeding the weak." Fortack wasn't dumb enough to out right insult the retired shaman from Jorgal because much of their own people's advancements against the genophage came from that clan alone and for that any krogan is grateful. But no one sings the praises or tells the stories of the scientist who sat around staring at pee-tree dishes. 

"Any new advancements?" Prax thumbed through a few of the schematics laying around the counter tops. 

Fortack was hesitant to answer at first, but the nod from the Urdnot Shaman was all he'd needed. "Right now I'm working on physical repairs to much of the starport and creating a new coating that shields from the dust and radiation wear on the structure."

"Fascinating." Prax continued to read through many of the equations while Fortack resisted any urge to call the old shaman some insulting version of a female salarian.

"Have you seen Bakara this morning?" The Urdnot shaman asked, keeping his eye still down the hall to the main area of the starport.

"No and since when am I the matron's keeper?" Fortack on the other hand continued to watch Prax and grew more irritable by the minute in the old shamans nosy rummaging. 

"Odd, we should head out again Prax. I more wanted you to see the changes Wrex has in store for Urdnot for when you head back to Jorgal." Prax nodded and followed the old shaman out. It was all the restraint left in Fortack not to spit on retired shaman.  
Once out of ear shot, "I don't think Urdnot Fortack cares for me." Prax smiled, pleased with his ability to still get under the plates of fellow krogan.

"He doesn't like anyone, it's his sense of duty and honor and keeps him in line. His mother grew up on Tuchanka and he was one of the few able to stay with her after undergoing his rite as a protector." The Urdnot shaman lead Prax back to the waiting area, which luckily contained a familiar face. "Matron Bakara, I was begining to think you'd forgotten."

Bakara looked up to the two older krogan from her seat, "No, I was just delayed." The response was short, but carried a different tone than the shaman was used to hearing from her. He sat on the otherside of the fire pit and Prax next to him. "You've come to see Nakmor Karh?"

"Yes, your shaman tells me of a mental disease that plagued his clan and he is the only known survivor?" Prax leaned forwards watching Bakara closely, eager to hear about this mystery illness.

"Nakmor Karh has left for the time being. He served his purpose in informing us of the danger and to stay away from the infected area." Bakara responded, her posture formal and upright.

"He told you this?" The shaman asked as the plates above his head furrowed.

"Yes. I approved." 

"What of your suspicions?" Fortack at this point was lost in the conversation, but the shaman seemed to be perusing something else.

"Not valid." Bakara's posture and tone never changed, it was as if she was a different krogan all together from last night in the shaman's eyes.

"Can you elaborate on that?" The shaman continued to push her.

"No need." She stood up, "Now if you will excuse me, I've matters to attend to." She gave the Prax no glance or acknowledgement before leaving the meeting area. Prax said nothing but looking around awkwardly before turning to his dear old friend.

"She is much different than I had heard." Prax questioned, not sure where to go from here, "It seems my trip here was a waste?"

The Urdnot shaman on the other hand watched Bakara leave until she was out of sight completely, "Something isn't right. She not only smells off but that krogan was not Bakara." 

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"I believe that sickness may of spread here. I had a feeling she was going to do something rash last night after we had talked and it is too coincidental that Nakmor Karh is now gone. Last night she was convinced something about that krogan was off and today it seems she is not only unconcerned with those events but completely different." 

"Hmm, that is a problem." Prax paused for a second, "Can you take me to where Nakmor Karh was staying while he was here?" 

"Yes, follow me." The shaman stood, still watching the direction Bakara had left for. She was heading towards the transport area, which concerned him greatly. 

The door to Nakmor Karh's temporary residence wasn't locked thankfully as Prax and the shaman stepped inside. Many of the krogan residing in this area were already long gone for their daily activities so slipping inside unnoticed wasn't a challenge for either of the old krogan. 

"If he was here, he isn't anymore thas for sure." Prax looked around the completely empty room. The room looked like any other uninhabited housing area in the starport.

"Bakara was here." The shaman stepped further into the room, "her scent cakes the area." Prax closed the door to the room and watched the shaman rumage through the area unsuccessfully. 

"That Nakmor Karh seems to be a much cleaner krogan than I'd of given him credit for, haven't met many krogan who would put this much effort into cleaning up any living area. There are no bones from past meals, no broken affects, or littered scraps of any kind." Prax stood next to the closed door, staring at the room as a whole. "Did you get to ever hear the symptoms of this so called disease?"

The shaman leaned down to look under the half broken down bed, "Bakara said the Nakmor clansman described the first stages as acting soulless and not themselves." 

"Hmm, that doesn't really fit this. This was calculated, I highly doubt a mental disease of any kind would force someone to clean and cover up any possible evidence." Prax leaned aganst the wall and sighed, "I already want to just kill the krogan and get it over with. This is too much of a pain."

The old shaman stood after finding nothing under the bed or around the floor. "Whatever took place here is lost to the ancients, this room is as clean as a place here can get."

"Should we follow after Bakara? Convince her to undergo an examination?" 

"Yes, if this truly is the disease at work, quarantining her would be our only option. Should word get out it could insight either a panic, Bakara's death or both." The shaman headed towards the door. 

"Killing her would be the easiest option before this disease spreads my friend." Prax stood in front of him, wanting to secure a plan before they committed to this.

"Out of the question, she is not only Urdnot but she will be the one to have our warlords first clutch since curing the genophage."


	59. Who is Wrong?

It was late, perhaps around 1am and the facility was silent. Javik knew Liara had gone to her quarters just a few hours before hand and he hadn't seen Feron since that morning so slipping into the shadowbrokers office posed no immediate threat and he knew security past the front gate was minimal at best. Various communication networks and wire taps were constantly running and recording across the monitors lining the walls of her office, but the main computer sat in the center of it all. It not only housed the primary data banks but he knew EDI's encrypted core was also there. Since early this morning he had spent the day creating a termination program against the back up codes. The algorythem itself was easy enough to create since he wanted nothing more than to delete enough code to either keep the AI perminately down or to extend the repair process out far enough that it would take years to ever recreate it, in which time he had hoped the primitive civilisations of this cycle would decide against ever creating synthetic intelligence again. The memory shard he carried with him went a long way in allowing him to achieve this creation of his. Personally he knew very little about coding and the synthetic biology around engineering such a being let alone the knowledge to work with this cycles technology but the shard have him the ability to imprint his own thoughts and ideas without typing or creating anything physical. This knowledge paired with Liara's understanding of peothean technology allowed for him to create a bridge between the two constructs and even with his minimal understanding of coding he was able to create something he assumed would work. 

He sat down in her chair, staring at the screen ingront of him. There were hundreds of numbered files, nothing obvious as to what contained what and each were individually passworded, but too many times had he watched her open EDI's file under the guese that he was interested in assisting her so he quickly found the right container and entered the password:

"Dear Javik,  
You highly underestimate your oponite, I pray to the goddess that it won't be your downfall. Now go to bed, like a good little prothean." 

Javik blinked staring at the screen a couple more times out of sheer surprise before all the monitors went black and he could hear the lock on the door to the office trigger. He was caught and unarmed but to his own surprise he was smiling. She had remained one step ahead this whole time, admittingly he went about this half heartedly, if he truly was gunning for EDIs demise and didn't care about Liara at all he would of blown the whole facility sky high but this result pleased a little part of him. He never wanted a weak comrad or lover and Liara was proving to be neither of those things. The only problem now was the fact he was likely locked in this room for the remainder of the night and the security locks on the door and cut power to the computer systems will make this a long night of sitting here. 

Javik leaned back into the chair and shut his eyes, grasping the memory shard tightly in his hand. Before he knew it he found himself among his own people once again and among the crew he once commanded just as Shepard did during the war. He missed them and wondered what many of them would say if they were alive today. Would they approve of his actions? Would they tell him he was wrong? He didn't know anymore and while the memories were pure, never did problems like this arrise in his cycle, there were no moral delemas or different ways of free thinking, there was only the Empire and fighting for your existence.


	60. Learning to live

As much as she had dreamed of a future with Garrus, the reality of the fact was they had only lived a life of war together and now that it was over she found herself laying in bed wondering if it all would work out. Earlier that week she had convinced Miranda that she could do an at home recovery, since she felt so well after Miranda's first rounds of gene therapy treatments. Shepard's own physical recovery speed not only surprised herself but Miranda as well, leaving the ex-Cerberus officer to only speculate what was happening on a cellular level. The best theory she had come up with was Shepard's own DNA had re-coded itself during the years of living with all the implants throughout her body. Since reaper code had been used in cellular regeneration during the Lazerous Project, Miranda was shocked to see that the human body could mutated it's own DNA to match that of the implants in such a short time. Miranda herself was considered a super human on a biological standard, which allowed her to not only have extensive biotic capabilities but an increased life span as well; her creation was carefully planned that way from conception though, no evolution needed. Shepard took a lot of this information in stride; she had seen too much over the years between the clone incident on the citadel and her own resurrection that she had learned to roll with the punches, just to keep her own mental state stable. This caused her to never touch the idea of religion, after-life or souls, she didn't want to go down that road. 

Shepard rolled over to her left looking at the back of Garruss's fringe as he still slept next to her. It had been a week since she had met with Hackett and the other leaders and in that time her and Garrus had spent much of it actually getting to know one another on a more personal level. This was one of the rare moments that she had woken up before him. On average turians only needed about 5 hours of sleep a night, often times Garrus would do fine on 3, be it his own choice or not. Shepard, on the other hand, used to be more than happy on 6 but since the loss of her implants she found her body exhausted much quicker, likely another side effect of its recovery. She needed more time to sleep, often resulting in sleeping for 13 hours if given the opportunity. This morning though, seemed to be the exception, she had been plagued the last couple nights with symbolic dreams: she would find herself back on Tuchanka, underground in the old ancient cities, surrounded by krogan paintings and sculptures of a past civilization that not even most krogan remember. While she couldn't remember last night's dream specifically, she woke with an overwhelming feeling of urgency and fear. She snaked her hand around Garrus's chest and pulled herself closer to him, squeezing him and looking for comfort institutionally. 

"You're up early." He grabbed her arm gently, rubbing a talon side to side affectionately against it. 

"Weird dreams again." She buried her head into his back. It had been so long now since she had been with any other man that the warm plates actually felt nice against her soft skin. For so many years she'd stayed so strong infront of hundreds and now she found such comfort in these little moments. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Garrus sat up. "Big plans?" 

"The primarch wanted me to do a couple things for him today. Apparently, there have been a few missing person cases around the citadel during the repairs and he seems thinks it might be Leviathan related."

Shepard felt a pang of guilt, while she was in no way fit for duty mentally or physically, she still felt like she should be doing something, "Thought he wasn't going to put you on active duty." Shepard sat up as well, watching him get dressed.

He flared out a mandible in a half hearten chuckle, "Worried?"

Shepard smiled and rolled her eyes, "Hardly. I'm just waiting for the day he promotes you to general, vice primarch or something and I get to say I told you so." She was worried, but she also had faith in his abilities. "I could come with you, if your scared."

"And be stopped every 10 seconds by someone asking for an autograph?" He finished dressing in the same armor he used to wear back in his days at c-sec. "I'll be back before you know it, besides wasn't today the day Grunt demanded some kind of noodle eating thing?"

Shepard laughed as she got out of bed as well. "Yes. I think I'm meeting him at some Japanese style restaurant they've recently set up here on the base. A few alliance families got it up and running yesterday and in good faith have decided to allow aliens."

"That odd for Earth?"

"From what I remember growing up here, yes. The first contact war between our people still leaves a bitter taste in a lot of people's mouths, especially the ones who have never left Earth. Lots of misunderstood fear." She paused, grabbing her own clothes from the closet. "If this war did one good thing, it's opened people's eyes and thanks to so many aliens coming to Earths aid, people are trying to be more accepting." She turned to look at him, pulling a t-shirt over her bra, "though, I'm not sure any human restaurant will ever be ready for Grunt." 

"I assume they know you're coming?" Growing up she had never really found turians or any of the alien races to be physically attractive, but as time has gone on, she couldn't think of anyone more handsome than the turian standing in front of her. 

"How do you think we got in?" She smiled as she pulled her pants up over her hips. Garrus did nothing but shake his head with a proud smirk in response. "Breakfast time." She headed out the bedroom door with Garrus following after.

His mornings over the last week in their little apartment that Hackett had given Shepard for the time being were normally a bit lonely. Shepard stayed asleep normally for the majority of the morning and didn't wake til around lunch. He didn't mind much to be honest, he had learned that while he was used to being surrounded by other people on the Normandy, he didn't realize until he was officially living with another person that he enjoyed those solo hours in the main battery and he missed his calibration work. So often times in the early mornings he would slip out of the apartment and work on various other projects around the base. The large generators were at their capacity and many of the electrical engineers were attempting to get a fusion core functional for the city's unstable power. Garrus found himself enjoying the work in calibrating the core and energy outputs, given it wasn't as enjoyable as weapons work but it was something to occupy his down time. Another reason he was a little happy to be assisting the primarch. 

Shepard felt a little bad as she opened the fridge to grab a precooked breakfast sandwich. While dextro-amino food supplies were holding fine, she couldn't help but think it must still be pretty shitty to eat rations every meal. The fridge was full of food for her while the cabinets just contained the dried pre-packaged foods for Garrus. "Hungry?" She walked over to the cabinet as she popper her sandwich into the microwave. 

Garrus had already sat down at the small table in their little kitchen and opened his omnitool. "I'll grab one on my way out. News report says the relay repairs are a little ahead of schedule. Liara's information that she gave me has helped alot apparently." 

"That's great!" She knew he was still worried about his family, even if he didn't ever talk about it. Many people right now felt the same way, espccially with the fact that the communications between systems was basically in limbo and a lot of people had no idea who were still alive and who were missing their time to grieve. Shepard wanted to ask Garrus about his plans once the relays were functional but in all honesty it didn't matter, he had spent so much time following her across the galaxy that the least she could do was follow him now. She had no family to tie her down, she had lived for the alliance and now she was living for her time with him. 

She moved over and sat across from him once her sandwich was done, "You know, it never occurred to me before but I'm not sure I've ever heard a train's voice without a translator. Alliance recruits get the sub-dermal implants at 18 and their weren't any here on Earth as a child." 

Garrus closed his omnitool and looked at her, "it's nothing like human speech. Turian's can't get the sub-dermal implants due to our plates, because it doesn't heal properly. Many of us use external ones in our armor, clothes, or omnitool. Personally, I use this." He tapped the side of his visor with a talon. 

It certainly explained why he never took the thing off. "I assume it's very different than human speech, considering you guys don't have lips or cheeks." 

Garrus laughed, "yeah, I think I remember Kelly Chambers saying it was a mix between some kind of bird found on Earth and a pen to her." 

He clearly didn't find this insulting, but Shepard felt a little defensive for the guy and made a mental note should she see Kelly ever again, "hmm, I think it'll be something I'll just have to hear for myself one day." She gave an awkward grin before pushing the conversation forward, "what do you think of human speech?" 

"Hmmm, first time I heard it was in my early years at c-sec right after graduating military training. I was probably 16 or so. I thought it sounded." He paused, realizing he was talking to the woman he would likely spend the rest of his life with, about a part of her that no one could change even if they wanted to. "It sounded, complex. There is a lot of emotion." He paused again, "and, uh..." Shepard couldn't help but grin, she loved these awkward moments that he had. One of her favorite memories was when she brought up the idea of him and her as a couple and he was so caught off guard she was convinced her translator must of broken or he had forgotten how to form sentences. Finally he sighed, "it's just, animal sounding to me I guess. There is a lot of vocal range and different sounds flowing together. Turian speech is more simple I guess." He pulled his mandible in tight, still trying to figure out how he could salvage this awkwardness. 

Shepard couldn't help but laugh again, especially since his own of his own language from Kelly was far more insulting had he gotten the references. "I like it, best description I've ever heard." She visibly watched him relax.

"Sorry I'm not very good at this, non-war stuff I've come to realize." 

Shepard reached out taking his hand in hers. "Neither am I big guy, we'll figure it out together. I promise." She smiled warmly, leaning over the table to touch his forehead to with hers. She had learned long ago, that action meant more to him than any kiss ever would and one day she'd ask why but for now, it was one step at a time.


	61. Tuchanka's nightmare

The transport Bakara took had already left by the time the Urdnot shaman and Prax arrived to the transport area.

"Did the matron mother say where she was headed?" The shaman asked the krogan engineer on duty. 

"Didn't ask." While the shaman of Urdnot was a position that held second only to the leader himself, most krogan didn't show any overly special treatment on a daily basis. 

"Did you see which direction she went or who drove her?" The shaman continued to press him for information. The Urdnot engineer was clearly in a foul mood to begin with as he didn't bother to stop his work on the vehicle infront of him at the first question or even turn around to speak with the shaman face to face. 

"She went off to the north and she drove herself." He continued to tear away at the electronics infront of him, spraying dust and dirt with each scrape of his tools. 

The shaman turned to Prax, who had been waiting silently behind him, just observing the situation. "You think she's headed to Nakmor territory?"

"There are a lot of things in the north, but it would be a fair guess. What do you want to do?" Prax remained as calm as ever, letting his friend lead their actions.

Normally, given Bakara's rank among the krogan females and the fact she was fertile, a military guard from the clan would be tasked with retrieving her; But in light of the sensitivity of this information and the fragile state of politics in Urdnot, that wasn't an option the shaman was prepared to execute quite yet. "You said you wanted to see the illness up close," he turned and headed towards one of the ground vehicles parked in the transport area. The area itself was free use to all Urdnot clan members, with much of Tuchanka's population off world, the need to regulate who was using what for what was irrelilevant. 

Prax followed the shaman. Internally he was torn, not for his own safety but for his friends. The rank of shaman was treasured among the krogan people, almost as much as fertile female were before the cure, and if the Urdnot shaman was to die here during this governmental reform, a lot of history and knowledge could be lost for the Urdnot clan itself. Prax didn't fear his own death, should the illness infect him, because as far as he was concerned he had achieved his life's purpose and had already passed his knowledge on to the new shaman of his own clan. He didn't question his friend though, to do so would be insulting not only to him but his knowledge as a shaman, instead he followed and offered to drive him. 

The ride to Nakmor was long, and much of it was done in silence until they entered the last but of sand dune before entering Nakmor territory. The borders were not marked officially, but instictually any krogan knew the lay out of Tuchanka. "There have been more tracks leading out if Nakmor than I thought there would be." Prax had been watching the dunes and many of the treads were still visible even this late in the day. 

"I've noticed that as well. Bakara described the illness as a debilitating one from Nakmor Karh's description, apparently that was not truth." The shaman watched out the window, looking at each of the various directions the tread marks followed. If this illness was even such a thing and was as contagious as described, this was a huge problem. 

"Urdnot shaman." A voice came over the tomkah's internal communications radio. Prax turned to look at the shaman before slowing the vehicle to a stop. 

"Yes?" The shaman pressed the transiever to respond. 

"Urdnot Traw speaking from transport control. Your presence is needed back in Urdnot, multiple murders have broken out all thought the city. The Urdnot military have attempted to contain the situation but even members of their own ranks have begun turning on eachother in cold blood." His voice was an obvious attempt to remain calm and gun shots could be heard in the background. 

The shaman felt one of his stomach sink. If the illness had spread to the capital city, it has progressed faster than any of them could of anticipated and with no leader in Urdnot, this was a nightmare in the making. 

"We are on our way. Those who have yet to be infected need to be isolated and those infected need to be put down." The shaman replied as Prax began turning the tomkah around. 

"Infected?" An explosion almost made the question inaudible. 

The shaman didn't feel the need to justify it explain it all to him, "If a krogan enters a blood rage and starts taking out other krogan randomly, they need to be put down!" His tone alone was enough to ensure the other krogan on the end of the transition didn't question his instructions further. 

The tomkah's max speed over the dunes still wasn't fast enough as far as the shaman was concerned, it had taken them nearly half the day to get as close to Nakmor territory as they did and even at these reckless speeds, it would still take awhile to return to Urdnot. Prax had nothing to say on the ride back as he watched his friend rummage through the weapons supplies that were stock in every tomkah here on Tuchanka. He knew that this was one of the worst things that could happen right now, with no leader Urdnot would likely fall, and the fact krogan were attacking eachother would only push the chaos further, thus crumbling what little advancement they had made in the last couple months.


End file.
